AMC men demolish weak buildings: Exercise to prevent loss of life due to building collapse

The civic authorities demolished 104 dilapidated structures in the city on Sunday to prevent any incident of house collapse in such building structures. Ahmedabad had a respite from rains barring scanty rains in some areas on Sunday.

The civic administration had warned on Saturday that weak structures that have likelihood of collapsing after the heavy rainfalls would be demolished without any prior permission from the owner concerned.

The AMC demolition squad with bulldozers brought down the old houses and buildings in the Walled City.

The squad attended 228 of the 301 complaints of "weak structures," and is busy attending the remaining complaints.

On the other hand municipal authorities further intensified the cleanliness and hygiene drives to keep a check on epidemic outbreak in the civic limits. The civic administration reiterated that health and hygiene were its main priorities. According to official release from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, no death or casualty was reported on Sunday-the fourth day after three days of heavy downpour. As many as 60 teams of doctors and paramedical staff undertook visits to the affected areas and attended to about 1,160 patients. About 70,000 chlorine tablets were distributed in the rain-affected areas and 3,944 kg of insecticides sprayed in the areas where water was logged. The solid waste management department of AMC had a busy day as it cleared 479 tonnes of solid waste from different parts of the city. The municipal authorities disposed off 125 tonnes of spoiled food grains and fruits as a part of its cleanliness drive. Cashdolls worth Rs 5,50,000 were distributed among 2,954 people in these areas.

The municipal authorities dispatched 36 teams with food packets and distributed about 10000 food packets in the rain-affected areas. About 161 de-watering pumps of the state government, municipal workshops and dire brigade are busy pumping out water from the water logged buildings, cellars, shops and complexes. Eighteen places in the city are still water logged with maximum water logging found in the east zone of the corporation.

The authorities have assured that water logging in all the zones will be cleared and emptied in the next 24 hours, however water logging at two places in the north zone and south zone are likely to take some more time.

The corporation had also send 56 water tankers to different places. About 635 buses of the Ahmedabad Muncipal Transport Service plied on the roads as 144 routes were operational and 12 routes were still closed.

Republished from Asian Age