Structural failure and negligence lead to twin building collapse in Bengaluru

When two apartment complexes on Hutchins Road, one under construction and the other four years old, came down on the night of July 9, an entire family perished and eight others were homeless. The building under construction tilted and sank post midnight. The pressure it created on the ground triggered the fall of the building beside it. The security guard and four members of his family, who lived in the basement, were killed in their sleep. The city’s mayor visited the spot next morning. The reasons she gave for the collapse made it clear that the tragedy was man-made. First, the builder had built a floor more than sanctioned in the building plan. What’s more, the foundation was weak. Third, the soil was unfit for a construction of that size.
The shocking incident is not an isolated one. In the last few years, the city has witnessed relatively new buildings or those under construction collapsing due to similar reasons: weak foundations and poor construction quality. In May, a similar tragedy was averted when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) evacuated six families from a three-storey building that tilted in Horamavu. The latest tragedy throws up the question why the BBMP, which approves building plans and issues occupancy certificates (OC), does not ensure quality checks before allowing people to occupy buidlings.
Existing building regulations (Building Byelaws 2003) make it mandatory for builders to submit a list of documents to acquire a licence and a sanction for the building plan. The builder then gets a commencement certificate (CC) to begin construction. The municipality’s ward engineer is responsible for all constructions in a ward and is expected to inspect the project and ensure there are no deviations from the original plan. Consumer activists say the byelaws are stringent enough. “The issue is with lax implementation. BBMP officials use the regulations only to fill their pockets,” said NS Mukunda, founder-president of Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF). The forum has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against the Karnataka government’s move to regularise unauthorised structures under its Akrama-Sakrama scheme.

Even though obtaining OC and no objection certificates from the authorities, including the Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, and fire and emergency services, is crucial to certify a building as worthy of being occupied, these documents have lost credibility, said Mukunda. “Often, home buyers are not aware of the technicalities of construction. They avoid approaching a technical person for the sake of cutting cost. That is where the civic body must play a role. Documents like CC and OC should be credible certificates,” he said.
Often, after an incident, BBMP officials are held accountable. Builders, who are equally responsible, get away, despite the law mandating that they employee certified engineers and architects. “Contractors make assumptions and plan a building just because they are experienced,” says architect Vijay Narnapatti. “But the role of a structural engineer is crucial to identifying soil quality and ensuring the building is resilient to commotions,” he said. Narnapatti wants strong checks and balances. “Since clients have no way of checking the quality of a building, it is imperative that the BBMP or the loan-issuing agency has a verifiable checking system. Else, how will a client know about blacklisted architects and contractors?” he said.

Scant attention is paid to this issue. For instance, the BBMP headquarters does not have data on the number of buildings that have collapsed. It does not even know how many plan sanctions have been cancelled or buildings demolished. According to town planning officials, the responsibility of maintaining such a register lies with BBMP’s zonal offices.

“The BBMP commissioner has issued a circular making ward engineers and executive engineers accountable for any sort of disaster involving buildings built by violating zonal regulations and sanctioned building plans,” said R Prasad, additional director, BBMP (town planning). The circular, issued only a couple of weeks before the Hutchins Road tragedy, directs ward engineers to maintain a register of buildings violating sanctioned plans, notices issued and action taken against them. The register is to be submitted to zonal chief engineers. “In case of untoward incidents leading to loss of life, the ward engineer and executive engineers will be held responsible,” the circular reads.
CN Kumar, an RTI activist, said there is not a single case in which those responsible for a building collapse have been convicted. “Often, builder gets an injunction from court, preventing the BBMP from interfering in the case. The BBMP should hire good lawyers and get injunctions removed,” Kumar said.

Considering how cases do not reach a logical end, legal experts believe buyers should pursue them in three different platforms. “There are remedies available under the Indian Penal Code. Buyers can move against builders and civic authorities and seek compensation,” said advocate P Anu Chengappa. They should initiate consumer court, civil and criminal proceedings simultaneously, she said.

Home buyers are now pinning their hopes on the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). Section 16 of RERA requires developers to adopt title insurance that guarantees a certain amount of money to home-buyers for damage or losses incurred. This, however, is applicable to real estate projects for which permission has been accorded on or after January 1, 2017. It applies only to plots of 500 sq mt or more, or have eight units. “None of the state governments, including Karnataka’s, have notified the rules for this section (Section 16). We are pushing the government to notify the rules so that buyers’ interest is protected,” said MS Shankar, secretary of the Forum for People’s Collective Efforts (for K-RERA).

The forum is also getting home buyers to report violations of the sanctioned plan. Since RERA came into existence, there have only been three or four complaints.