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STATES:
GUJARAT
Whom
To Blame?
A
lot of pople are to blame: officials who certified the safety of unsafe
structures, builders who forgot all about the value of human lives in
their greed, politicians who used their influence to facilitate illegal
building.
Says Govindrao
Tambe, a construction engineer who teaches at the Ahmedabad-based Centre
For Environment Planning and Technology and was actively involved in building
earthquake-resistant houses in Latur: "Many buildings that caved
in in Ahmedabad were so poorly designed and constructed that they were
incapable of bearing vertical and horizontal loads." Earthquakes
cause buildings to experience forces in the horizontal direction too,
which engineers call horizontal loads. Tambe says even according to the
current building bylaws, earthquake-resistant designs are mandatory in
Ahmedabad but were not being implemented.
Studies on
the growth of the real-estate business in Ahmedabad over the past decade
show that the city's tragedy was partly man-made. It was a result of the
negligence of the authorities which allowed faulty structural designs
in what is a seismic-3 zone. As many as 80 buildings caved in in a span
of three minutes, leaving another 50 so badly damaged that the civic authorities
have already begun the task of demolishing them. Over 500 need urgent
repairs to make them safely habitable once again. No one is even counting
the number of buildings with less serious damages.
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"Our
designs did not meet stipulations for a seismic zone".
Surendra
Patel,
Chairman AUDA
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Admits Surendra
Patel, a senior BJP leader and chairman of the Ahmedabad Urban Development
Authority (AUDA): "Our structural designs were not in keeping with
the specifications recommended for this seismic zone." Hemant Shah,
an architect and a member of the Gujarat chapter of the Indian Institute
of Architects and Engineers (IIAE), says, "None of the buildings
that collapsed was built by known builders. They were all made by unorganised,
inexperienced builders many of whom had little consideration for norms
and quality."
The goriest
incident happened in the brand-new four-storey Swaminarayan School building
in the city's Maninagar area where 33 children were crushed to death when
it fell. School Trustee Ramesh Patre, who is also a builder, had constructed
the building in just four months in his eagerness to start the school
in time for the ongoing academic session. In the process he cut down on
the curing time, when the edifice is watered, thus raising a weak structure.
Curing strengthens the cement and is, therefore, important.
That was
not all. On preliminary investigation the police found that less of steel
was used, creating inherent weakness. The gap between the steel rods used
in the reinforced cement concrete (RCC) structure was almost eight inches,
which is too wide for a building of this size and shape. In the Vidyamandir
Apartment at Sabarmati, the experts found that the building had fewer
pillars than shown in the building plan passed by the civic body. Worse,
the pillars of the four-storey building were just 4 ft deep. Many of these
builders have been unscrupulous beyond comprehension. Investigators discovered
that almost all the four-storey buildings that collapsed didn't have plinths
or tie beams. Tie beams connect one column with others beneath the ground
surface and firm up the foundation. The plinth is the support on which
a pillar or beam rests.
The experts
who inspected the rubble were shocked by the construction quality in Jalasmriti,
Utsav and Pujan apartments built by Rakesh Shah. All of these came up
in the past 30 months, and all collapsed in a heap. The plaster was mud-and-brick
like. The buildings didn't even have plinths. It's the same story of cheap
trickery in the seven-storey Akshardeep Apartment in the city's Ellisbridge
area, which came down like a pack of cards, killing 11 people. A team
of engineers and architects found that the quantity of steel used in the
building was too little. It was built by Rojibhai Patel, again a new builder.
In Ayodhya Apartment where five people were crushed to death, most of
the rods used in the columns were not more than 12 mm in diameter, much
less than stipulated and clear evidence of crude profit-making.
Less steel
wasn't the only problem. Most buildings had massive water tanks which
exerted loads beyond the stipulated amount. In Mansi Tower the collapse
seems to have been brought about by excessive load on the top floor which
reportedly included a swimming pool.
Remarks
Amit Bhatt, a specialist in building foundations who has been much in
demand for his skills after January 26: "The demand for a structural
engineer in Ahmedabad depends on his skill in using minimum steel in construction.
Howsoever good the engineer might be to be acceptable to the builders
he has to compromise on quality."
According
to Bhatt, the per sq yard cost of a good building has to be around Rs
2,500 for a builder for a good structure. Most builders, particularly
the fly-by-night ones, aim at Rs 1,800 to
Rs 2,000 per sq yard. An earthquake- resistant building according to experts
would cost over Rs 3,200 per sq yard.
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