The Hindu 25.11.2010
Building to be demolished
| Team of experts conducts study |
Loose soil found to cause ‘sinking' of buildings
Experts conducted soil excavation and performed tests
Coimbatore: The Government has decided to demolish one block of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements and reduce the number of floors in the nearby blocks in Ammankulam.
The 144 prospective beneficiaries will be accommodated in Ukkadam, said Minister for Slum Clearance Suba Thangavelan on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by the Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Managing Director of TNSCB A. Ramalingam, Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra and other elected representatives.
Mr.Suba Thangavelan told reporters that TNSCB in the last four years had constructed 45,000 houses and Tamil Nadu had had one lakh and six thousand houses and construction of 3,800 houses was ordered by the Chief Minister in Coimbatore in order to make the city slum-free.
Under the Jawarhalal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), TNPCB is constructing 1,608 dwelling units in four floors at an outlay of Rs. 49.98 crores in 15 acres ‘natham poromboke' in Ammankulam.
Blocks
In the first phase, 16 blocks with 936 dwelling units are in progress. Under such circumstances, one of the blocks with 48 houses sank on April 3, 2010 to an extent of 52 cm.
A team of experts on inspection had explained that loose soil without hard surface was the reason. The experts carried out the soil excavation for testing so as to decide on the further course of action.
Taking into account the safety of the nearby buildings and the people, it has now been decided to demolish the affected building completely without any loss to the TNPCB.
The expert team conducted soil excavation and testing in a number of places in the site.
On April 17, 2010 after heavy rain, one more block with 72 tenements sank by 23 cm. The experts had identified the same as the reason.
Hence, the Government had decided to demolish the block 2 B with 48 houses completely and top two floors will be demolished and only ground plus one floor would be allotted in the annexure building that started sinking on one side i.e., block 4 B.
The third floor would be removed and only ground plus two floors would be allotted in other blocks (where loose soil beneath the basement is suspected) i.e., blocks such as 1 A, 2 A, 2 C, 5 B and 4 B.
The identified beneficiaries for these units would be accommodated in the new buildings to come up at Ukkadam.
As suggested, the officials had done the work of injecting cement mixture into the basement in the above said blocks. The study conducted thereafter had confirmed that the cement mixture had spread over the loose soil thus strengthening the basement of these buildings.
In other buildings, to check the capacity to bear the weight, the officials loaded 240 sand bags for every tenement i.e., at the rate of 5 tonnes for every dwelling unit. The weight was retained for 25 days and despite rains and there was no damage to the structure.
The Government had deducted the cost in the bills of the contractor to a tune of 85.35 lakh and the remaining cost of the “demolished structures/ floors” will be deducted at the rate of 25 per cent in the future bills.
The works for construction again resumed in September 2010 and the works would be over by March 2011.
Under JNNURM, it was proposed to construct 2,232 houses at a cost of Rs. 67.50 crore. As many as 1,224 units would be ready by January 2011 while all works would be over by March 2011.
Mr.Thangavelan said that all those residing along the water bodies such as Big Tank, Valankulam, Muthannankulam, Sanganaur Canal i.e., in objectionable Government lands will be accommodated in these dwelling units.
