Minister for Urban Development U.T. Khader has said that seven officials of the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) have been suspended in connection with the building collapse in Dharwad earlier in the week.

Speaking to presspersons after visiting the site on Saturday, Mr. Khader said that considering the seriousness of the disaster, a magisterial inquiry had been ordered. Prima facie it appeared there was dereliction of duty on the part of municipal officials. “Based on a preliminary report, we have suspended seven officials pending inquiry,” he said.

The suspended officials are: Deputy Director of Town Planning B.V. Hiremath; Assistant Director of Town Planning Ashok Gadag; Town Planning Officer Mukund Joshi; zonal officer Prabhakar Doddmani; Executive Engineer V. Sridhar; Assistant Executive Engineer Chandrappa; and zonal Assistant Commissioner Santosh Anishettar.

Mr. Khader said further action would be taken once the detailed inquiry is complete.

He said direction has been issued to authorities concerned across the State to inspect the stability of multi-storyed buildings in their jurisdiction and to take measures for the safety of the people residing there.

RERA implementation

Mr. Khader said the government would be effectively implementing the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. Under RERA, it is mandatory for all commercial and residential projects of above 500 sq.m to register with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for launching a project.

‘Fitness certification’

Minister for Water Resources D.K. Shivakumar, who also visited the site on Saturday, said the government needs to introduce new measures, including fitness certification of buildings to avoid such disasters. Besides this, older buildings should also be inspected to prevent any such disaster. He also suggested the need for a bigger debate on the issue so that comprehensive rules and regulations are put in place and it was made mandatory for the concerned officers to periodically inspect such buildings and make it mandatory for the owners of concerned buildings to get the fitness of the buildings certified periodically. Just as periodical fitness certification is done for vehicles, there should be certification for buildings too, he added.