The Greater Chennai Corporation is yet to act on 387 dilapidated buildings in the city which it surveyed with the CMDA in 2022. Though notices were issued to a hundred buildings, none of them have been demolished yet.
As a result, the city continues to have dilapidated buildings with peeled-off concrete, exposed reinforcement steels and cracked roofs waiting to fall. The affected buildings are located on the Seventh Main Road in Anna Nagar, in Collector Nagar on the Ambattur Estate Road and in George Town. Santhome Housing Board tenements are also affected.
R Rajendiran, executive engineer of the GCC buildings department, said they had not carried out a survey after 2022. “The zones locally find out details of dilapidated buildings. We will compile the data soon,” he told TOI.Some dilapidated buildings in George Town and Old Washermenpet, built in the 1950s, still have people living in them. Officials said more than half the buildings still have people living in them. In some cases, there are litigations among owners. In some other cases, there are litigations between owners and builders.
According to the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Body Rules 2020, the GCC is supposed to carry out structural stability assessments with its engineers and renew the structural stability certificates for old buildings.
Officials said in dilapidated housing board colonies, residents have already tied up with private builders to demolish and reconstruct. ” But demolition does not take place, either because of compensation delays from builders or because of project approval delays. Owners have let out these dilapidated buildings for rent till the buildings are reconstructed. We have issued around 80 notices in North Chennai zones over the last year in these cases,” said an official. The corporation would soon begin a fresh survey of dilapidated buildings, the official added.
