Lansdowne building: Conserve or rebuild? Expert panel will decide

Aug 28, 2012 - S.V. Krishna Chaitanya |

Bengaluru

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Lansdowne Building

The three-member technical committee constituted to study the structural stability of the historic Lansdowne building, a portion of which caved in, killing four persons, is likely to visit the site on Tuesday.

The experts will go into every detail of the 120-year-old heritage building and collect samples for technical analysis. The committee will then decide whether the structure is in a position to conserve or has to be demolished and rebuilt. Prof. Syed Shakib-ur-Rehman, committee member and vice principal of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, said: “Personally, we would like to recommend reinforcement of the current building, but technically we can’t assure it now at this juncture. Heritage is essential, but lives of people are equally important. With availability of modern technologies, we hope to preserve the monument, but before that we need to assess the extent of damage to the building. In case we feel that the building can’t be conserved and has to be demolished on technical grounds. We won’t hesitate to report considering the high risk factors.”

District-in-charge minister S.A. Ramdas has given a week to the committee to submit its report with the best possible recommendations. Mr C.S. Vishwanth, founder of Bengaluru-based Torsteel Research Foundation and chairman of Karnataka State Quality Assurance Task Force, will arrive in the city on Tuesday.

Sources meanwhile said that preliminary investigation into the Lansdowne tragedy has revealed some startling facts. The wall which collapsed along with a portion of the roof was said to be made of “mud”. The original material used for construction of the building was lime and mortar.

Danger looms
Besides the Lansdowne building, three other historic marketplaces in Mysore — Devaraja Market, Mandi Market and Vani Vilas Market at Agrahara — all in dilapidated conditions and are over 100 years old. The technical team is scheduled to visit these marketplaces too early next month to analyse their stability.

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