Demolition demand divides people
By -Shefali Nautiyal

The High Court will take a final decision on the fate of 17-odd buildings damaged in the quake tomorrow, but as far as residents are concerned, there is already a deep divide between them. Half of them want the buildings to be demolished, while the others are quite happy with reports that mark their buildings as "repairable."

Residents of Him gin Apartments, where 17 people died, are extremely angry.
Viraj Modi, a fourth floor resident of the building, lost his father, brother and
cousin in the quake and says that majority of the residents want the apartment
to be demolished and reconstructed. The two, who are not in favour of demolition, had given their flats on rent. Since they are not living in Himgiri, they want the building to be repaired," says Modi, who feels that no amount of repairs can make the apartment safe.

‘A team from Hyderabad also said the can in no way be repaired and made liveable. The builder had also constructed flats in the parking area and given the basement to Cadhury’s as their godown," he says. Residents of the building plan to stage a protest if a judgment contrary to their demands is passed.

In Akshardeep block C, residnets want-the building to be pulled down and reconstructed. "Despite being constructed in 1995, the building collapsed like a structure of sand. This proves that it was poorly consructed as confirmed by teams from Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Basically the Government doesn’t want to pay Rs 1.75 lakh to residents and hence is opting for the easy way out. Moreover, the report is a political one and not a technical one," says Dilipbhai Gondaliya, who lived on the second floor of the block.

Prakash Bharthan, who lived a floor below, is also of the opinion that the building should be demolished and not just repaired. "It is an example of poor design and construction and’ can collapse any time. For the time being, we have supported it on 25 iron supports by contributing Rs 15,000 each," he says.

However, residents of Sangemarmar, where the front portion crashed and
11 people died, feel that the structure "is fine and can do with repairs.
"I am a civil engineer and know that the structure is quite safe," says Mukul Desai, who lives on the second floor of Sangemarmar.

He adds that residents were surprised to find Sangemarmar’s name in the list of 21 badly damaged buildings Another resident, Malay Shodhan, is also happy with th report.

"We definitely want repairs as the building is in good shape. Repair work will begin in this week," he says.

Occupants of Shivalik building, whose badly damaged facade sends the shivers down many people’s spines, are also confident that the building can be repaired.
An occupant of the complex says, "Offices in upper floors have already started functioning. The only damage is to the front section and I think that it should be repaired."

Republished from Indian Express