Missing floor tiles at Amritsar MC office irk visitors

Amritsar, January 11

Six years after the construction of the new building of Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) head office, part of the floor damaged with several tiles uprooted causing trouble to visitors. The new building of the MC head office at Ranjit Avenue was constructed in 2016.

The office was shifted to the Ranjit Avenue area from the old Town Hall building in 2017. Owing to various infrastructural issues, the MC building remained the talk of the town. The taps and other sanitary equipment installed in the building got dysfunctional soon after the building was opened to public.

Now, floor tiles are missing from several spots on the main hall and the corridor. The area with tiles poses a risk to visitors, especially elderly persons. The condition of the building has become a matter of concern for city residents. “It is the main hall of the MC where floor tiles are missing. The damaged tiles have affected the building’s aesthetics and safety of visitors. If the MC’s new office building is facing such issues, what can expect from them for other civil works in field. A probe should be held into the matter and strength of material should be checked,” said SS Sharma, an activist.

Not only floor tiles, tiles from the façade of the building also came off after two years. Multiple instances of tile breakage on the front facade of the main MC building were reported earlier. The affected areas have now been plastered and painted to address the issue. The technical expert of the MC claimed that tiles on the façade of the building had developed cracks and came off due to the expansion and shrinkage caused by temperature variations in summer and winter. The expert claimed that the weather conditions may have led to the removal of floor tiles.