Lalita park building collapse, East Delhi (Nov 15, 2010)

by

Prof. Chandan Ghosh, NIDM

Buildings are the creation of the society

Out of the compassion to have a space to

Eat and taking rest after day’s hard work

But making them safe is rather an option

As Delhi faced in the Lalita park case

Building collapse in the urban set-up

Has been a way of ferocious outcome

Evidenced by poor quality construction

The master architect of this “time bomb”

Professing so far as “messiah” to his subdued tenants

By way of subsidized rentals and tattered utilities

By taking custody of all technicalities to his confines

Having columns starting and finishing at each floor

With cantilever on the west side exceeding 50%

Making basement without any concrete floor

The building was made beyond permissible height

Those occupants choosing to live with penury

Struggling under the shackles of soaring economy

They knew nothing what was in store for that evening

No tremor, no riot, no fire, no storm, without any warning

Only bursting sound came before anything could fathom

Drifted all away to the adjacent DJB ground 

Smashing their lives beyond all cognizable human bond 

A great event turned to killing 72 and injuring 63

Hailed mostly from underprivileged section of our community

Whose lifecycle got woefully ceased to extinction

By the force of fury crafted out of illegal and poor constructions

Awfully practised by our urbanized society

The practice of bad quality construction has seemed unstoppable

Under the shadow of municipal authority and seasoned contractors

By flouting proven construction technology, rules and regulations

Enshrined in the Indian National Building Code

The harbinger of this building massacre 

Eventually emanated out of the organised insufficiency 

Of the application of building bye-laws amid widening gaps 

Between written clauses and reality implementation measures

Taking on the immediate and proximate causes

Of the collapse and to recreate circumstances

And sequences of pre-collapse events

That led to sudden failure on 15th Nov 2010 evening

Looking into the pitfalls of building construction

And foundation problems if caused

Due to prolonged water logging of the basement

Has been the main task to bring forth for the public

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