The Times of India           30.07.2013

60 days after survey, AMC pulls down first dilapidated structure

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has finally demolished the first dilapidated building from a lot of nineteen high-risk category structures in the city on Monday. Municipal commissioner Gokul Maware has recently given a green signal to the department concerned to pull down five dangerous structures.

Administrative officer in the AMC, Vithal Dhake, said that there was no opposition from the owner of the century-old building. Located at Tilak Path near Paithan Gate in the heart of the city, the building was one among the high-risk category buildings sealed by the administration last month.

Last year, nearly half of the building's facade was demolished by the civic body under its road widening drive.

Some days back, a non-identified 150-year-old building in Lotakaranja area had collapsed raising doubts about the authenticity of the AMC survey. Besides, despite having evacuated the identified dilapidated buildings, the AMC had not initiated action against them. According to state directives, all municipal bodies were supposed to identify dilapidated buildings and demolish the same before monsoon.

When asked whether the AMC would pull down all the dilapidated buildings, Dhake said that in some cases there was resistance from property owners and a few had approached the court for a stay against the action. "We are acting as per orders of the municipal commissioner," he said refusing to comment on the remaining dilapidated buildings.

The municipal corporation had started the survey of such buildings from April 22 as per the instructions of the state. During the survey of all commercial and residential buildings, it came across 58 dilapidated structures. Of these, 10 were deemed hazardous for human life. Thirty others were deemed equally dangerous and needed immediate action, while the remaining were also considered unsafe for residents.