Low-Quality Materials Used: Officials On Collapsed Kolkata Building

Builders of the collapsed multi-storey building in Kolkata's Garden Reach area had flouted several rules of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to erect a new building which led to the disaster, a senior official said on Monday. The collapse of the building claimed nine lives and injured 17 others.

They also not only used low-quality materials to build the structure but used 10mm rods instead of 16mm as proposed by the KMC, the official told PTI.

The builders constructed the five-storey building despite the civic body providing a sanction for a two-storey structure on the 1.5 katha of land in ward no 134 of the KMC, he added.

"Rules were flouted rampantly. They had constructed 16 flats with a floor area of 500 square feet. They were in a hurry to hand over all the flats and thus they were trying to expedite the construction work there," he said.

"Low-quality materials were being used to save costs. Casting is done with 10 mm rods instead of 16mm. They had kept 5,000 bricks loaded on top of the building which was unable to bear the weight and it collapsed," the official said.

According to the new guidelines of the KMC, from now on sub-assistant engineers will be going out to inspect the flats.

"They will look around different wards and look for illegal houses. In case of any irregularity, the illegal construction will be demolished at the initial stage," he added.

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