Corporation Commissioner P. Kumaravel Pandian has instructed officials in the Town Planning section to check for unsafe buildings.
His instructions comes after a building in K.C. Thottam on Chetty Street collapsed on Sunday night, killing three persons and his visit to the accident site on Monday.
Sources in the Corporation said it was a 40-year-old two-storey building with a temporary structure on the terrace.
The sources said the Commissioner had instructed the Town Planning wing officials to inspect unsafe buildings and also unauthorised construction in and around the accident spot and across the 100 wards.
“As on Monday afternoon, I had issued verbal instruction. By evening, I will be issuing written orders to the officials in the wing to check all buildings,” Mr. Pandian told The Hindu.
If during the inspection, the officials came across unsafe buildings or unauthorised construction, they would issue ‘de-occupation’ notice to the occupants so that they vacated the building.
But this was too little and late, said S. Kanagasundaram, a licensed building surveyor. The Corporation appeared to wake up only after a tragedy, just as it had happened in the instant case.
The Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019 had mandated the Corporation to check old buildings for earthquake resistance. The Corporation was supposed to have completed the task by this February, but it had not.
And, for earthquake unsafe buildings, it should either recommend remedial measures or demolition. It had not happened because to certify the remedial measures they were not registered engineers, again a delay on the civic body’s part, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, sources in the Town Planning wing said they would start checking for unsafe buildings in the next couple days.