Building standards in India are being
called into question with yet another building collapse which took place in
Mumbai. Todays victims include three people who lost their lives and 22 families
trapped in the rubble of the five-storey building
Building collapses are rare in the West but
in Indian they appear to be on the increase.
The evidence suggests that it’s not
only government building subject to poor standards of construction but buildings
that are being rushed up by rogue builders.
Five other apartment blocks have collapsed
in or around Mumbai in recent months, Most telling was a collapse in April
which resulted in the death of 72 people.
This building located in Thane was an illegally constructed
building it was this disaster that underscored the prevalence of illegal and
shoddy construction ending in disaster.
Particularly disturbing reports at that
time of one women who was pulled from the rubble after 36 hours!
Also in April a wing of a public hospital
in Bhopal, India collapsed seriously injuring at least eight people many of
whom had been trapped by the collapse
In 2010, a five-story tenement collapsed in
New Delhi, killing at least 64 people, mostly migrant workers.
Between 2008 and 2012, there were 100
building collapses in the city in which 53 people died and 103 others were
injured, authorities say.
It now seems that building collapses are
not unusual in India because of unsafe and illegal constructions tacked onto existing
structures.
New Delhi bans large cement trucks from
entering much of the city during the day. The result is that concrete for even
very large homes is often made in a batch process on site, which can result in
substandard buildings with significant structural flaws.
The problem appears not to be a lack of
construction standards, just an indifference to them, it looks to me that these
rules are an option that builders choose to adhere to according to their
budgets.
India it seems must concentrate on
enforcement and monitoring of new and old buildings, it is without doubt that
India will see more deaths from these lethal structures. Put up for cheap
profits that later results in deaths of the innocence it’s now time for India get to grips with this problem
Author :
Nick
Marr
