In one of the worst ‘heritage’ disasters the city has witnessed in the recent past, the landmark Lansdowne Building, located just behind the Mysore Palace, caved in on Saturday evening killing four people. Decades of neglect by the occupants and local authorities coupled with the ravages of climate is said to have led to the collapse of the 120-year-old building.

The victims have been identified as Gyana Prakash, Annapurna, Anand and Lokesh. The roof of the two-storey building, which has around 150 shops, gave way in the central part of structure, limiting the life loss to four. Among the victims, Prakash and Anand were brothers working with Lalita DTP Centre (Shop 17) on the ground floor and Annapurna was a typist there. She was a M.A. gold medalist and was assisting her family. Another victim, Lokesh was a customer at the DTP centre.

According to eyewitnesses, there was a loud sound and a gush of dust when part of the building collapsed around 6 pm. Surrounded by city bus stand, Devaraja Market and Mysore Palace, the area always is packed with people and vehicles. It was panic and chaos for some time until the police and fire fighters launched the rescue operation. Survivor Ravi Kumar, who was a close friend of the deceased Prakash, said, “I was at the DTP centre just a few minutes before it caved in. I went out to have cup of tea and was again entering the shop before all hell broke loose. Everything happened within seconds and all four of them were crushed in front of my eyes”.

Nanjundachar, another employee at the DTP centre, said: “I came late to work today, which saved my life. I am working here for past 12 years”. He also said the roof of the building was leaking due the continuous rain over the last few days and they had even complained to the shop owner. Other tenants of the building blamed the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) for not carrying out periodical repairs and conserving the heritage structure. Mr M.S. Basavaraju, an advocate, said, “Every monsoon, the tenants pool in and undertake temporary repairs. The MCC hasn’t bothered at all”.

The earlier Deputy Commissioner, Mr Harsha Gupta, had mooted a plan to demolish the structure terming it unfit. But the tenants’ association went to court and secured a stay order. On its part, the MCC says the maintenance was tough because the rent paid by the tenants was very low. The project to restore Lansdowne building, envisaged by MCC, has also not made much headway, but the blame game between MCC and traders has been continuing for the last 15 years.

District-in-charge minister S.A. Ramdas, who visited the spot, announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the families of the deceased and convened a meeting of the tenants on Sunday. “Though the matter is in court, I would convince the traders to vacant the building in view of their safety”, he said. The Lansdowne Building was constructed in 1892 in honour of Lord Lansdowne, the 5th Marquiss of Great Britain, who visited Mysore as the Governor-General of India. It is one of the architectural marvels of Mysore and is regarded as the crowning glory of the city where marketplaces were meticulously planned.