Inquiry committee favours TCP check on roadside buildings

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 6

The 13-member committee that probed the four-storey building collapse on the Kumarhatti-Nahan road on July 14 has recommended bringing buildings at least 50 m on both sides of national, state as well as district roads within the purview of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) rules.

The committee, headed by SDM Rohit Rathore, which submitted the report last evening, has recommended that some mechanism should be developed to monitor the quality of construction in panchayats by the Rural Development Department. The absence of regulations in the construction of the eatery building, which was located in a panchayat area, led to the death of 14 people.

It has also been recommended to check constructions along the highways to avoid the repetition of such incidents and the rules followed in Haryana, which restrict ribbon development, have been cited in support.

“Since the construction by adjoining land owners has the tendency to disturb the strata and natural drainage, besides triggering erosion at the base of a building, ribbon development along a road is discouraged in engineering. It also increases congestion and triggers road accidents, thus a recommendation to amend the roadside land control rules on the pattern of Haryana has been put forth,’’ said the SDM.

He added that the need to engage a structural engineer to design any building, constructed within 50-m distance of a road and also get its sub-soil investigation done by an NABL-approved lab, had also been put forward. A key recommendation to authorise the experienced third party quality consultants to monitor the construction work at various stages had also been made.

With structural flaws coming to the fore, the need to engage trained masons and registered contractors having adequate resources and competent staff had been stressed.

Other key recommendations included standardising building designs and drawings for small projects worth less than Rs 50 lakh and ensuring that only empanelled contractors undertake its construction as an additional safety measure had been stressed. The disposal of surplus earth, pre-specifying development of the plot, developing proper offset, drainage and protection work at the site of work both in notified areas as well as panchayats to avoid such incidents had been recommended.

The report will be sent to the state government and it remains to be seen what steps are taken to strengthen the regulatory mechanism in the rural areas which are bereft of any control as of now.