BENGALURU: The Legacy builders have agreed to accommodate all evacuees of the Queens’ Corner apartment at the Citrus hotel, Cunningham Road. Thirty two families from C block of the apartment had to vacate owing to a crack and sinking of land due to the deep excavation by the Legacy for a high rise structures adjacent to the apartment on Monday.
Although the evacuees are relieved to have found accommodation, their routine has been upset. The superficial filling of cracks and filling of crater that developed at the Queens’ Corner apartment was completed and only a few members of the society had gathered to know the future course of action.
Some of the victims were happy that they got to stay close to their apartment and they can get updates on the progress and development apart from sending their kids to school through school van. However the new accommodation is cramped and there is no place for the kids to play. It is literally difficult to hold kids in a place that too at a new one, said Thangam Venki.
Although breakfast is complementary along with accommodation, there was no clarity on who would foot the lunch and dinner bills. Since they have limited amount of clothes they had no option but to depend on laundry service. The residents are keeping their fingers crossed to get back to their flats and hoping that rains do not hamper damage control work.
Meanwhile, the Legacy apartment authorities have taken up providing retaining wall and securing the compound wall and Queens’ Corner building. A team of structural engineers have inspected the apartment and are expected to give a report in a week’s time, said victims. Ganesh V. Shivaswamy, an advocate and who owns a flat at the apartment told Deccan Chronicle that the hotel accommodation was the result of negotiations with the Legacy builder and not out of humanitarian gesture, as claimed by the builder. Unfortuately, so far, actual Legacy people have not appeared and consoled the distressed people, he said.
“We are getting structural and technical experts from Sundaram architects to ascertain the extent of damage to the structure. We don’t have faith in Legacy authorities. We stick to the results given by our consultants,” said Mr Muniswamy.
Legacy had violated norms: BBMP official
The Legacy builder has totally violated the basic building norms and basic precautionary measures to the adjacent and neighbouring buildings leading to major chaos since Monday, said a senior BBMP official, who is part of structural design team, on Wednesday.
The saving grace is that the structural engineer Prasad and Srinath have assured that no damage to the Queens' Corner structure has taken place. The caving in of the land has not affected the pillar or the beam of the structure. However, the families cannot occupy the building until the retaining wall is provided to avoid pressure, said BBMP sources.
While issuing the plan, the BBMP lays down about 40 conditions pertaining to safety issues, including soil testing, before taking up excavation. Securing neighbouring buildings and structures and road is mandatory while taking up the construction. The initial report points out that the BBMP East zone engineer had already slapped notice for not adhering to the norms. The builder has been asked to submit compliance report within seven days time.
“The builder has been given time of seven days for the reply. The builder has also been asked to file a compliance report on what measures they have taken to ensure restoration works for the damaged properties in the neighbourhood, displacement problems of the occupants of the apartment within the stimulated time,” he added. Sherieff, a BBMP engineer, said that the BBMP will issue structural stability report to the apartment authorities in a week's time..
No water in B block
On Wednesday, the third day after the tragedy, the B block of the Queens’ Corner apartment faced water shortage. The generator which was at the corner of the property had to be moved for safety and there was no power back up. This has affected B block’s electricity supply resulting in dry taps and lifts were also not functioning, said a resident. Since the BWSSB has cut off the water supply we had to depend on the tanker water, he added.
The residents are waiting to secure the premises and certification from the structural engineer to reoccupy their flats which would take at least 10 days, added residents.
