GHMC drive against rain-soaked old buildings

HYDERABAD: With the entire state capital virtually soaked in rain for the last 10 days, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is looking at old and dilapidated buildings as the most imminent threat to the safety of the residents. Haunted by past instances of old buildings collapsing amid rain ruin, the civic body this time around is acting fast to prevent this grave threat.

A total of 524 buildings have been identified as dilapidated within the corporation limits. As a first step, the GHMC authorities have gone into an overdrive to demolish edifices that are either likely or on the verge of collapsing.

More and more rain is only adding to the woes of the public and the official machinery as well. The city is witnessing a spate of incidents since Tuesday.

A woman sustained grievous injuries following a wall-collapse in the old city on Tuesday night. In another incident on Wednesday morning, two persons were injured after a house allotted under the Indiramma scheme caved in in Suraram under the Kuthbullapur limits. Realising the lurking danger, the GHMC teams began acting fast against buildings that are deemed unfit for use. Authorities claimed that as many as 185 buildings of this kind have been demolished while another 300 were seized after shifting their inmates to alternate dwellings.

All these displaced people, according to the civic body officials, are being provided shelter at rehabilitation centres. The authorities claim that they are going all out to remove the threat posed by the weak structures, having clearly learnt a lesson or two from past incidents.