Monday, 24 November 2014

REGULATE APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION TO AVOID TRAGIC DISASTERS

 REGULATE APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION TO AVOID TRAGIC DISASTERS
The latest tragic incident of an eleven storey under construction residential project  building collapse in on Moulivakkam near Porur on Kundrathur Main Road, Chennai on 26/06/2014 in which nearly 30 construction workers have lost their lives, must be an eye opener to our State and Central Governments. The project ‘Trust Heights’ which had two 11 – storey buildings under construction The Faith  and The Belief are promoted by real estate developer Prime Sristi Housing Pvt.Ltd.  As reported in newspapers  the 11 storey building ‘The Faith’ has collapsed on an adjoining building. It was also reported that there was nothing wrong with the approved  plan, but the builders knowingly committed many violations and did not adhere to the plan that was approved. The loss of human lives would have been in hundreds had the building collapsed after the buyers had occupied the building.
This is not a rare incident and earlier also high rise buildings have collapsed in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and other major cities in which hundreds of people have lost their lives. In general the violation of building bye laws and approved plans by the developers is quiet rampant in India. There are many instances where the builders have constructed extra floors without  approval by the city planning authorities leading to demolition orders by the authorities /courts.
In a case pertaining to illegal constructions, the Allahabad High Court has issued orders for demolition of two 40-storey buildings in Noida’s ‘Super tech Emerald Court project’ which is having two towers having a total of 857 apartments. In this  case the developers i.e, Supertech initially had sought permission to build 24 floors but later increased it to 40 floors.
Another famous case is that of  ‘ Campa Cola compound building ' in Mumbai which is a nearly 20 year old building in which the builder has constructed extra floors. The BMC later ordered for demolition of illegal floors in the building comprising of 102 un- authorized  flats. The residents fought their case up to the Supreme Court, where their plea for staying the demolition was turned down by the court. Now, the flats are facing demolition making the lives of the residents miserable. on account of the greediness of the builders. 
The above incidents are happening as the real estate sector is unregulated, some of the greedy builders/developers are indulging in rampant violation of building bye-laws and cheating the gullible buyers of residential flats in our cities. It is alleged that the civic authorities admit that there are thousands of illegal constructions in most of the major cities.

Ultimately, the buyers are the sufferers due to the dishonest actions of some of the developers and corrupt officials. The Central and State governments must look into such lapses, enact stringent laws to punish the guilty and protect the interests of innocent buyers.

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