Poor construction quality overlooked by PMC

Poor construction of buildings always grabs the attention of people, since it includes requisite amount of life risk for its tenants. A building in Dattawadi, Pune has been in the news recently due to the poor quality of construction material used, which has been overlooked by the PMC.

Seen as a prime reality destination of Pune, Dattawadi includes a number of buildings that have not maintained the parameters of the construction quality. According to PMC officials, in regard to the increasing number of realty projects in the city, it is a difficult task to keep a check on every building and its construction quality.

With the collapse of certain buildings in Dattawadi, private developers have received a negative publicity. The collapse of the building in Dattawadi has led to the issuing of notices by the state government to the related architect, builder and structural engineer of the particular building. This has directed a severe blow to the real estate community of Pune.

With the collapse of the building in Dattawadi, prices of old residential properties near Erandavane, Navi Pethi, Ladkatwadi and Lokamanya Nagar may be affected. The recent collapse of the building in Dattawadi is just another addition to the number of building collapse in Pune in the last few years. Talijaj building collapse in Saiduttanagar Colony in September 2012 testifies the inefficiency of PMC(Pune Municipal Corporation) while sanctioning permit to builders and developers.

If market reports are to be believed, permission for around 4200 buildings in Pune are sanctioned which is likely to give rise to an annual revenue collection of Rs 699 crores. In respect to last year when 1870 buildings were sanctioned for construction that yielded a gross revenue of 380 crores, the expected increase in revenue for the present year is likely to boost the economy.

As a strategic measure against the incident, the PMC has organized a structural survey of the unsanctioned buildings and constructions in Pune, which does not have layouts. PMC is also in talks of appointing an engineer to survey the status of the building constructions in villages and in the old city.

To add to it, government officials also confirmed that the state is coming up with disaster management programs to deal with water logging problems that forms the major crisis in cities like Mumbai and Pune. According to government rules, inspection should be conducted by civic body after every five years for buildings, more than 20 years old. For 30 years old buildings, inspection should be carried out once in every three years.

Effort on part of the state government will prevent the tenants from all possible dangers from the sudden collapse of buildings. By issuing certain stringent policies and rules, steps can be taken by the government to compel the real estate developers to maintain the the quality of construction and add to the overall life of the building significantly.