380 old buildings in Trichy given warning notices

A portion of an 82-year-old building adjacent to the Natharshahdargah near Madurai road in Trichy city came down crashing late on Thursday night, but luckily no casualty or injury was reported. However, the incident has exposed the vulnerability of people residing residing next to century-old buildings in old Trichy and neighbouring areas. Corporation sources said there were about 380 such age-old buildings in different parts of the city identified as unsafe and waiting to cave in any moment. After a weak multi-storey building on East Boulevard road collapsed on September 3, 2017, killing four people, Trichycorporation carried out a survey to identify the weak structures. Since the government buildings are taken care of by the respective departments, the civic body surveyed only residential and commercial buildings. The results showed that as many as 398 buildings were unsafe to use in the city. While about 10 owners came forward to demolish their old buildings, aged between half-a-century and a century, near Khajapettai and Salai road, the civic body demolished a weak building on West Boulevard road in December 2017.