Lack of maintenance takes toll
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Neglect and lack of maintenance on the part of tenants and landlords claimed the second life in five years in the state-run TNHB tenements.
In December 2007, a woman had died following the collapse of a concrete block just a few blocks away from Thursday’s mishap site.
A quick tour around the colony would reveal that most residents, particularly those who were allotted houses under economically weaker section (EWS) category, live in near-dilapidated houses built not less than two decades ago there.
They don’t mind dwelling there precariously, for, nowhere in the vicinity would they get houses for such cheap rent, says Mr Gangadharan, the former joint secretary of Manali New Town Residents Welfare Association, noting that the maximum rent was Rs 1,000.
A living example of the sorry state of affairs of the buildings is the story of Kaliappan, who lost his wife in December 2007 when a parapet wall collapsed, killing her instantly.
Since then, he preferred not only to stay off the house but also asked the sole tenant who occupied his house to vacate.
“I do not want any one else to face a similar fate. I would rather keep the house locked up than someone getting injured,” he rued adding that most of the houses of EWS are not safe and habitable, but people risk as its’ cheap.
Tenants occupy most houses and landlords seldom visit them to assess the safety or maintenance required, Kaliappan complained adding that not even his neighbour bothered to accompany him when he went knocking at the doors of government offices immediately after his wife’s demise.
“When we approached, TNHB officials said the onus was on the owners as TNHB’s burden of maintenance ends once its sells the houses,” Mr Kaliappan recalled.
However, TNHB had repaired some 50 and odd buildings when cracks developed within 15 years from the date of allotment, Mr Gangadharan said.
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