GUWAHATI: Following the eviction of the traders and residents of the dilapidated Lal Singh Mansion building, declared unsafe by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), the municipality is now devising a plan to take necessary steps for the demolition of the building. First, a notice will be sent to the owner of the building to demolish the structure on his own. If he fails to do so, the GMC will demolish it and realise the cost of the same from the owner as arrear municipal tax.
The GMC, on Thursday June 28, sealed the Lal Singh Mansion building on AT Road after officials marked it unsafe. Built in 1957, the building was being used for both residential and commercial purposes. It was residence to a total of 35 families until 31 of them moved out in the past couple of years because of its dilapidated condition. Only four families were residing in the building when the GMC sealed it. Further, five road-facing shops had been functioning in the building for decades.
This was not the first time that the building was deemed unsafe. The building developed issues in 1976 and 1981 too but the process to demolish the building started only in 2014.
“During a visual screening carried out in the city in 2011, a total of five buildings were identified as unsafe. Following that, a notice was sent to all the building owners to demolish the structures. While three buildings were demolished and one was retrofitted, Bikram Singh, the owner of Lal Singh Mansion went to court to challenge the decision,” informed an official of the GMC.
Initially, a petition was filed with the Gauhati High Court but it later moved to the Supreme Court.
Following this, a committee had been constituted by the then commissioner of the GMC in 2014 to examine the structural safety of the building. The committee, comprising technicians from IIT Guwahati and other engineering institutions, opined that it was beyond repair and as it is located in a densely populated commercial area of Guwahati, it poses a threat to human life. It also said that as the electrical wirings are in a very bad shape, the building also poses threat of fire hazard.
Based on the findings of the report, an active notice had been served to the building owner in 2016. But the building owner filed a second petition with the High Court, which ruled in favour of the GMC. Following that, GMC commissioner, Monalisa Goswami, on June 21 this year, ordered that the building be sealed. The move was undertaken under the supervision of GMC Collector, Loni Borpatra Gohain.
Tenants allege scam in Lal Singh Mansion sealing
Commercial tenants of Lal Singh Mansion have alleged the involvement of a Guwahati-based builder in the sudden sealing of the building by the GMC.
“It has been years since the building was declared unsafe by the GMC and we never faced any problems regarding safety so far. In 2016, we had been served with a notice but a committee had been set up to undertake an enquiry. We never heard back from the officials about the findings of the enquiry thereon. Suddenly, on June 25, we were sent a notice to vacate the building based on those results making us question the move,” a tenant told G Plus.
Similarly, another tenant alleged that there was a possible agreement between Bikram Singh and the builder who wanted the building to be demolished for their own benefit. Bikram Singh, on the other hand, denied the allegations saying he is uncertain how the matter suddenly erupted.
However, an official at the GMC informed G Plus that the step was taken after the judgement of the Gauhati High Court pertaining to the building came out in March 2018. “As per the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Act, until and unless a notice is executed, it is never invalid,” he added.
As per orders, the GMC sealed 27 rooms of Lal Singh Mansion on June 28. Four families residing in the building were given 72 hours’ time to shift to some other location.
However, a pregnant lady residing in the building had moved the court following the sealing and was granted allowance to stay in the building till July 11, 2018 on humanitarian grounds.
The judgement stated that “if a new building is constructed at the same site, the earlier occupiers be given consideration in the new building.”
All old buildings under GMC scanner
The GMC is set to conduct another round of Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) of buildings in Guwahati this year. Speaking to G Plus, GMC officials informed that all old buildings, including schools, colleges and other institutions are under scanner.
He maintained that resilience building practices such as RVS and retrofitting has become the need of the hour as the threat of earthquakes of small and big magnitude looms large over the city. As preventive measure for public safety, the GMC regularly organises RVS, a classical method of preliminary vulnerability studies which requires minimum input to classify the vulnerability level.
The corporation officials and planners have been following a set of guidelines on dilapidated structures. However, re-development of the old buildings remains a challenge, owing to lack of incentives for redevelopment.
