Occupants told repair ‘unfit’ bldgs or raze them

Vadodara: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Tuesday urged people staying in dilapidated buildings to either bring down the dangerous portions or take steps to make the structure safe.
Sources said that the city may have around 600 buildings or houses which have been classified as ‘unfit’ by the civic body. Most of these houses are located in the old city areas. Such houses frequently collapse during heavy rains.
The civic body sent notices to those staying or holding possession of such ‘unfit’ buildings. It brought out a public notice urging occupants of ‘unfit’ buildings to either bring down the dilapidated portion or take safety measures as the buildings could collapse due to heavy rains or due to cyclonic conditions.
While no major incident has been reported, sources in the fire and emergency services department said that 29 calls of house collapse were attended by the fire department in 2022-23. In 2021-22 also a similar number of house collapse calls were attended by the fire department.
VMC, however, has not taken any strict action regarding such houses. Sources said that the process of issuing notices is taken up every year, but no further action is taken.