Chennai: Preparations are underway for the demolition of the Chennai Silks building after a fire razed down the top five floors on the right side of the seven-storied building early Thursday morning. The crash began around 3. 20 am on Thursday.
Fire officials who thought that they had it under control by midnight had to extend their operation as the crash led to start of another round of fire from the building from Thursday morning. “It took another four hours in the morning to bring the blazing fire under control,” a fireman said.
This meant that the ordeal extended for over 30 hours making it one of the longest firefighting operations in the city in recent times with over 400 firemen engaged in the operations.
Later in the day, finance minister D. Jayakumar announced that the building would be brought down and the costs for it would be procured from the owners. “We will also take strict action against other buildings who have violated norms,” the minister added.
A panel led by public works department chief engineer R. Jayasingh observed the building before demolition works began. Later in the day, more corporation trucks carrying debris were brought to the scene where demolition work would begin.
Metro rail subcontractors who were hired to demolish structures opposite the Central railway station and Old MLA Hostel are engaged in the process of bringing the building down. “A technology called Silent Demolition Technology which is quick and won’t cause grievance to the public will be employed here too,” according to an official overseeing the operations.
The demolition work, which was expected to begin at 4 pm, was delayed, as the necessary infrastructure wasn’t in place. Officials said that work would begin during the night and would take at least three days to complete.
The manager of Chennai Silks, meanwhile, filed a complaint with the Mambalam police station on Thursday morning requesting police to investigate the cause of the accident.
According to police, the Chennai silks management has also alleged that delay in operations by the fire department led to the spread of the fire.
5-member panel
Revenue minister R. B. Udayakumar inspected the accident site and said that a five-member committee led by public works department chief engineer E Jeyasingh had been formed to evaluate the Chennai silk building. The team will also ascertain the impact of fire accident and advice the state on the demolition process so that there is no damage to the nearby buildings the minister told reporters.
Salaries disbursed
Employees of Chennai Silks are yet to get out of shock due to the raging fire, but a simple message received on their mobile phones brought smiles back on their faces albeit for a moment. All the Chennai Silk employees of the 17 branches got their salaries on Thursday as usual on the first day of the month. For the second consecutive day Chennai silk employees were seen fighting tears when the watched the fire ravaging the building that provided employment for them. Though they were not interacting with the media they admitted that salaries were credited to their bank accounts without fail and had no complaints about their employer.
Timeline
- March 2000: Chennai Silks obtained permission from CMDA to construct four floors.
- July 2000, the CMDA issued show cause notice to Chennai silks after it found deviations from the original plan.
- August 2000 the illegal structures were demolished by the CMDA and Corporation.
- 2005 - High Court ordered the state to ascertain the illegal buildings and the authorities identified 86 buildings including Chennai silks as illegal.
- 2006 - 5th and 6th floor of Chennai Silks were demolished.
- 2011 - Corporation and CMDA sealed 25 buildings in T Nagar. Subsequently the T Nagar traders obtained a stay order.
- The same year state proposed to introduce section 113 C section in town planning act to regularize buildings constructed before 2007.
- January 2012 - Supreme Court passed orders directing Madras High Court to take a decision within six weeks. Since then no further steps were taken by the state housing department or the judiciary.
Govt puts blame on court
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday put the blame on Madras high court. Media shy housing minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan and housing secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, blamed for Chennai metropolitan development authority’s callousness in cracking down illegal buildings, addressed a press conference at the secretariat explaining that they were not able to take action against illegal buildings including Chennai Silks due to stay orders obtained from court.
Housing and urban development minister Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan and housing secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav address the media on Thursday. (Photo:DC)
Radhakrishnan explained that CMDA and corporation served showcause notices, initiated demolition of illegal buildings, but there were series of litigations filed in the Madras HC and Supreme Court, he said. Responding on the issue, housing secretary Dharmendra Pratap defended the state and said it was practically not feasible to demolish all the illegal buildings, but certainly we would take action against offenders in a phased manner. However both the minister and secretary failed to answer why in the first place illegal floors were allowed to be constructed and why no field inspections were conducted by the state officials.
Ramaswamy approaches High Court
A day after the fire accident that took place at Chennai Silks, a popular textile show room in T.Nagar, social activist Traffic Ramaswamy has approached the Madras high court to take up early the hearing of his PIL relating to removal of unauthorized constructions, which is pending before it.
Ramaswamy alleged that the failure on the part of the authorities to initiate appropriate action against unauthorised buildings, was the primary reason for the massive fire accident, which brought down the multi-storied Chennai Silks building in T.Nagar.
When he made a mention to take up the PIL early and to permit him to file another petition relating to Chennai Silks, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M.Sundar said the petition would be heard when they come up for hearing in the normal course. Originally, the PIL was posted for hearing on June 19.
