Engineering a tragedy in Hyderabad?

The town planning wing had identified 198 dilapidated buildings in the twin cities last month and decided to demolish them in public interest. Though its officials claim to have demolished 42 buildings till date, they also admit a serious lack of coordination with the engineering wing at the zonal level.

A senior town planning official, who wished not to be named, said, “there is absolutely no coordination and support from the engineering wing. We have identified the structures based on visual observation but we need the engineering wing’s certification for going ahead with the demolition without any legal complications.”

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Throwing up his hands helplessly, he pointed out that they had conducted many review meetings at the zonal level and also informed GHMC commissioner about the problem without any result.

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If such was the case, how could they bring down the 42 structures? “We went ahead with forceful demolition wherever possible, especially in the case of the most dangerous structures,” he replied. He also believed that there could be more number of unidentified buildings on the verge of collapsing.

When contacted, GHMC chief engineer Dhan Singh admitted that “these are issues that prevail at the zonal level.” But he washed his hands of the matter, claiming that “unless it is brought to our notice, we cannot take action.”