Nagpur: A survey carried out by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) earlier this year marked 239 structures in the city as unsafe and dilapidated.
Of these, 145 are still in use while the rest were either razed or repaired, NMC’s fire and emergency services data reveals.
On Friday, even the Bombay high court, while hearing a building collapse case in Mumbai (which killed 11 persons), warned, “We are now making it clear to all the municipal corporations that if any further building collapse occurs and people are killed in it, we will take it very seriously and take a very strict stand.” The structures identified in the NMC survey pertained to only seven of the 10 NMC zones, as Laxmi Nagar, Dharampeth and Ashi Nagar zones did not carry out surveys.
Notably, in 2020, a dilapidated house in Sadar area under Dharampeth zone caved in claiming two lives.
Similar unsafe structures can be spotted in Ashi Nagar zone as well.
The seven zones have submitted the survey report to NMC’s fire and emergency services department to tackle any untoward incidents of collapse of old structures during the monsoon season.
The highest number of old and dilapidated structures are in Mangalwari, Nehru Nagar and Gandhibagh zones.
The maximum 100 dilapidated buildings in Gandhibagh zone, especially in Itwari, Gandhibagh and Mahal, are occupied.
Of these, NMC could not demolish even half of the structures or get the structures repaired by the owners.
As per zone officials, about 50 old structures that are in dilapidated conditions continue to be in use.
In Nehru Nagar zone, the civic body has already declared 38 of the 49 structures unsafe, but they are still in use.
Similar situation prevails in Mangalwari zone.
Here, the zone office declared 49 structures – mostly residential buildings – as dilapidated and unsafe for living.
Still 14 such properties are in use, reveals the data.
Not just private properties, but even ones owned by the civic body fall in the unsafe category.
The Mahatma Phule market (Dhantoli zone) falls under this category and even NMC’s shopping complex at Gaddigodam is in a bad shape.
There is no other way but to demolish such structures, which the owners will have to do themselves.
The civic body has issued notices to demolish the dilapidated structures but very few have come forward.
In most cases, due to owner-tenant disputes, the dilapidated buildings continued to be in use, the data revealed.
At least 20 such cases are pending in the court.
Through notices, all zonal offices have warned owners regarding mishaps and instructed them to demolish structures.
The notice made it clear to the owners that NMC will not be held responsible for any loss to life or property.
A case in point is a multi-storey building near Kamal Chowk.
Here, despite court orders, neither the tenant is evicting the ground floor nor is NMC taking any measures to raze the building which is in a precarious condition.
Sources said NMC should disconnect water supply and electricity to the dilapidated buildings.
Zones — Dilapidated — Occupied Hanuman Nagar — 14— 05 Dhantoli— 18— 15 Nehru Nagar— 49— 38 Gandhibagh— 87— 50 Satranjipura— 15— 14 Lakadganj— 08— 08 Mangalwari— 49— 14 Total— 239— 145 (*Dharampeth, Aashi Nagar and Laxmi Nagar zones did not conduct survey)