Past tragedies fail to bring successive regimes out of slumber
Tectonically active Jammu and Kashmir has no mechanism to identify and keep a tab on unsafe buildings in all major cities and towns.
Enforcement agencies have ‘miserably failed’ to check haphazard construction despite ‘repeated warnings’ of the possibility of an overdue high-intensity earthquake.
This is in addition to the failure of successive governments to put in place a concrete disaster management plan in the state, which is in seismic zones IV and V.
“No exercise to have official data of unsafe buildings has ever been undertaken in congested cities and major towns. We are completely helpless as we have no data of unsafe residential buildings which can crash at any point of time,” said a senior official of the state administration on the condition of anonymity.
“Our job is limited to the post-disaster phase. We are virtually waiting for a tragedy to happen. It is primarily the job of civic bodies and district administrations to keep a check on haphazard construction, but enforcement agencies have failed to rein in violators,” he said.
“Tremors of high intensity will create havoc in all major towns and cities as the condition of old and dilapidated buildings has not been assessed. The authorities at the helm of the affairs are ill-prepared to handle such disasters,” the official said.
Citing an example, he said the authorities in Jammu city, with a population of more than 15 lakh, had never bothered to carry out a survey of old, dilapidated and unsafe structures, particularly residential buildings, to assess their condition and occupants had still been living under constant danger.
He said a group of former members of the Jammu Municipal Corporation had raised the issue and demanded identification of unsafe buildings, but the authorities remained unmoved.
“Since officials do not have any data, they cannot serve notices on occupants of these buildings despite the fact that they are living under constant danger in view of recurring tectonic activity,” the official said.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation did not have any official data on unsafe buildings despite its limits falling in seismic zone V, he said.
GM Bhat, noted geologist, had already cautioned that an earthquake with magnitude of between 8 and 9 on the Richter scale was overdue in Jammu and Kashmir and the state government should take it as a ‘challenging task’ to implement its disaster management plan in the shortest possible time.
Former Jammu Mayor Narinder Singh said, “As per the Municipal Act, the dismantling of buildings which have been declared unsafe by the civic body is a disciplinary and obligatory function. If officials concerned do not discharge their duties effectively, it reflects criminal negligence on their part.”
Mandeep Kour, Jammu Municipal Commissioner, evaded queries on a mechanism to keep a tab on unsafe and dilapidated structures within municipal limits and failure to check haphazard construction.
Showkat Ahmad Zargar, Srinagar Municipal Commissioner, said they did not have data on unsafe buildings. “We will look into the issue seriously and initiate an exercise to have earthquake-resistant structures,” he said.
