Bengaluru Has 571 ‘Weak’ Buildings That Could Pose Threat to Public Life: Survey

According to the survey, most of the weak buildings are located at Yelahanka, South and East Bengaluru.

There are as many as 571 weak buildings in Bengaluru that could collapse any moment and affect public life, a preliminary survey of dilapidated buildings in the city has revealed, Bangalore Mirror reported.

The survey is the second one that was held to identify weak structures in the city. According to the survey, most of the weak and old buildings are located at Yelahanka, South and East Bengaluru.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city's civic body had held the first survey in 2019. It had found 185 weak buildings in Bengaluru then.

Demolition of Weak Structures Halted Following COVID Outbreak

However, following the survey it had managed to raze down only 10 out of the 185. The civic body had told that the demolition work had to be halted following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020.

Gaurav Gupta, the Chief Commissioner of BBMP had ordered a fresh survey of weak buildings after the civic body was severely criticised for a series of recent building collapses. He reportedly told journalists that they have got a preliminary report. He added that zonal teams had been given a fortnight's time to finish the survey.

The fresh survey has found 396 weak buildings, taking the total tally to 571.

BBMP's joint commissioners have been given the responsibility of issuing notices to owners of the weak buildings. Once structural engineers inspect the buildings, a decision would be taken on bulldozing them, he said.

Bengaluru has some 20 lakh buildings in total, so it is unlikely that the civic body has completed surveying all of them, the publication reported.

(With inputs from Bangalore Mirror)