The Hindu 03.05.2013
Coimbatore builders seek regular interaction with officials
‘Involvement of stakeholders will ensure better adoption of safety norms’
Following the fire accident at Vigneshwar Cresta here,
for almost a week now the Coimbatore Corporation and the Local Planning
Authority are taking action against unauthorised constructions in the
city.
This is expected to control building rule and safety norm violations in the new and upcoming projects.
Apart
from this, regular interaction and involvement of the stakeholders will
ensure better adoption of safety norms, feel some of the building
consultants in the city.
“Many of us do not know the details and changes of safety and development norms.
Regular
meetings with the officials will create more awareness. For instance,
some of the fire safety measures were not insisted upon for building
licence 10 years ago.
Now, these have become mandatory,” says a property developer in the city.
Eight
or nine years ago, the district administration and local body officials
used to have meetings with the builders and promoters once in three or
four months.
Based on these the builders had organised several training programmes for their members on safety measures.
Regular,
extensive and open-minded meetings between officials and the
stakeholders will certainly help have effective solutions and encourage
voluntary action even in buildings where these measures are not
mandatory, they say.
The genuine concerns of the builders and developers can be addressed through these meetings.
Further,
there are several new trends such as use of security systems and
uninterrupted power systems (UPS) in almost all the buildings now.
Solutions can be evolved for ensuring safety even while these are used.
The
officials can conduct random inspections once a month, or take up a
survey to identify those who violate rules in all buildings and
structures that have major deviations, compromising on safety and
security.
Action can be initiated on these buildings, they say.