CHENNAI: A one-man commission that conducted a probe into the collapse of a 12-storey under construction building at Moulivakkam in Chennai on June 28 submitted its report to the Tamil Nadu government on Monday.
Retired high court judge Justice R Reghupathi, who headed the commission, submitted the report to chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
Sixty one construction workers were killed and 27 others were injured in the disaster that kept the National Disaster Response Force engaged for a week.
The terms of references of the commission were to probe reasons for the building collapse, fix responsibility and suggest measures to prevent similar instances in future.
The disaster brought into focus issues like non-adherence to approved plan and structural design by builders and lack of technical competence on the part of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and local bodies like Corporation and village panchayats to scrutinize structural plans submitted to them for approval. None of these government agencies, at present, carry out inspection of buildings under construction.
Immediately after the disaster, CMDA carried out an extensive field inspection of 700 buildings in and around the city. They are those under construction as well as the ones that were completed in the last one year.
The plight of investors in such buildings is a cause of concern as they are not eligible for any insurance cover at present. While contractors and builders take insurance cover for buildings under construction, the rights of buyers, as of now, are protected by insurance firms (provided they take insurance cover) only after they take possession of the apartments.
HDFC Ergo is in the process of rolling out a 10-year insurance cover for new buildings, starting from the construction stage.
