Pune civic body issues 52 notices to ‘risky structures’
In the aftermath of the twin tragedies that crushed the lives of several labourers in the city, the civic body seems to have awoken, albeit late, to the perilous conditions in which thousands of such workers live while they toil. After the Kondhwa wall collapse on Saturday, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has served notices to 52 dangerous structures across areas, and has also shifted 22 labourer camps that were found to be in a hazardous condition. But, even as the civic body’s building permission department officials have claimed they are conducting this survey on a priority basis, standing committee members have alleged that these officials are cleary incompetent when it comes to handling this issue, since they are falling wildly short of staff. Over 20 labourers have died in the two wall collapses that took place within three days of each other. Sandwiched between these two incidents, PMC on Sunday started surveying labourer camps on a warfooting. Of the notices sent out for hazardous structures, many had blatantly ignored safety measures in the building process; several retaining walls were observed that could fall at any moment. The authorities also found multiple structures where labourer camps were in such a dangerous state that a similar calamity was just waiting to happen.
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