The Hindu : Front Page : Demolition of unsafe Saravana Stores floors begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Demolition of unsafe Saravana Stores floors begins

Kannal Achuthan

— Photo: M. Karunakaran

ensuring safety: Demolition in progress on the fourth and fifth floors of Saravana Stores on Ranganathan Street, T. Nagar, Chennai on Wednesday.

Chennai: Workers have started the demolition of the fourth and fifth floors of Saravana Stores, Ranganathan Street, where a fire claimed the lives of two persons on September 1.

The fire also damaged the top floors of the building.

A few days later, the Chennai Corporation issued a notice to the proprietors under Section 258 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, ordering the removal of the structure deemed to be in a ruinous or dangerous state.

Saravana Stores has engaged workers to demolish the fourth and fifth floors.

A Corporation official said the civic body would have taken up the demolition if the proprietors had not done so. Section 258 (precautions in case of dangerous structures) empowers the Corporation to knock down constructions declared unsafe after an inspection by the Public Works Department.

Building violations

A High Court-appointed monitoring committee on building violations had listed Saravana Stores among the buildings on Usman Road and Ranganathan Street that had deviated from the building regulations.

However, no action could be initiated due to the repromulgation of the State government ordinance against the demolition of unauthorised buildings constructed before July 2007.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page