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.
