GHMC slaps notice on errant building owner

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has issued a show- cause notice to the building owner, Patlori Padmaja, for deviating from the sanctioned permit plan and taking up unauthorised third floor slab and columns on the fourth floor of the collapsed building, which claimed the lives of two workers at Kukatpally on Saturday.

The notice was issued as per the GHMC Act and the Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self Certification System (TS-bPASS) Act for unauthorised third and fourth floor construction, while the building permission was only for two floors.

The owner of the plot which is situated near BJP office road, Kukatpally, had obtained building permission for the construction of stilt plus two upper floors in March 2021, but unauthorisedly started constructing third and fourth floor slabs. While casting of RCC slab for the fourth floor with ready-mix concrete the slab collapsed taking down the third floor slab also and trapping the two labourers in the debris.

With the help of GHMC's Disaster Response Force (DRF) and the Fire department, the debris was removed to retrieve the bodies.

The GHMC said the unauthorised additional floors were detected and a show-cause notice was served on January 3 itself directing that further constructions be stopped. However, the owner ignored the notice and went ahead with laying of the fourth slab on January 7. Due to the negligence in following safety measures during the concrete laying, the slab collapsed, the civic body said in a release.

The GHMC is proposing to file a criminal case against the owner of the building /site engineer for negligence while undertaking the construction