NAGPUR: While Nagpur Municipal Corporation
is set to conduct a mandatory structural audit to ensure safety and
health of buildings older than 30 years, the threat of dilapidated
structures collapsing is looming large. A senior NMC official said that
before the onset of monsoon, NMC’s all 10 zonal offices identified 373 dilapidated buildings
across the city. NMC data reveal that the Gandhibagh zone had largest
number- 112- of old, dilapidated structures, followed by Mangalwari zone
with 88.

All the zonal officers have issued notices warning of a
possible disaster during rainy season to the owners and tenants of 373
dilapidated structures. But the administration does not have any
mechanism to ensure compliance of its notices. “This is a pre-monsoon
exercise we carry out every year after surveying the buildings in
corporation limits. We issue notices to the owners and the tenants well
before the monsoon, warning of a potential threat and ask them to remove
or repair the dangerous constructions,” said a senior officer.

It has become an annual ritual for zones. The best example is Model Mill
Colony in Ganeshpeth area. The two-storey building is in a dilapidated
condition since many years, yet many families continue to live there.
Many occupants even use windows to enter and leave their homes.

Though these buildings are occupied at present, the civic agency has
taken no action to avert tragedy. “Most of these buildings are subject
of family dispute or are occupied by tenants. However, residents do not
take warnings seriously and many times oppose demolition leading to such
a situation,” added the officer.

Moreover, it is not possible
for the civic body to check if people have complied with the directions.
“It is a big task to keep a follow-up and we do not have sufficient
manpower for that,” he said. There is a state government decision
empowering the civic body to cut electricity and water supply to those
buildings that do not carry out repairs or are evacuated. But NMC has
never used it. With this, the residents continue to live with the risk.