Indore: Under fire, IMC identifies 166 dangerous buildings

Indore: Two days after Hotel MS building collapsed like a pack of cards that killed 10 people, Indore Municipal Corporation, which is under fire for inaction against illegal and dilapidated structures in the city, on Monday launched a massive drive to identify buildings falling under dangerous category and came up with a list of 166 structures.

It also found out nine dangerous residential structures in and around Sarvate bus stand where the ill-fated hotel building had collapsed. IMC has served notices on the landlords and directed them to vacate their houses within 24 hours. Building officers and inspectors of all the zones of IMC were directed to identify dilapidated buildings in the city on Monday.

The IMC officials undertook a massive drive and by evening came up with a list of total 166 buildings, which according to them are not safe for living and should be demolished. The IMC made the list public. A closer look at the list revealed that maximum numbers of 69 dangerous buildings were found in Zone-2. This covers Bada Sarafa, Silawatpura, Sitalamata Bazaar, Narsingh Bazaar, Hukumchand Marg etc.

These areas are located in the middle of the city and are densely populated. Maximum numbers of 11 dangerous buildings were found in Silawatpura followed by seven in Bada Sarafa under Zone 2. Second on the list with highest number of dangerous buildings is Zone 12 under which falls Nandlalpura, Jawahar Nagar, Raoji Bazaar, Chandrabagh Main Road. In this zone, the maximum numbers of dangerous structures were found on Chandrabhaga Main Road (10) and Nandlalpura (9).

City planner Vishnu Khare said the list includes commercial and residential structures. He stated that about 10 structures on the list were already demolished or partly demolished by IMC removal gang. He said that landlords of the dangerous buildings would be served notices for vacating the structures at the earliest.