‘Probe confirms fault, but trial in court lags, no action’ | Lucknow News
Lucknow: A year since collapse of a building in Transportnagar, claiming eight lives and leaving 27 injured, the families of victims are still awaiting concrete action.“After 365 days of pain, we ask the same question: why is there no action against those responsible for death of my son? Even court trial is moving at a snail’s pace,” said Gurmeet Sahni, father of Jasmeet, recalling how promises of accountability were yet to be fulfilled. “Authorities must expedite process to punish the guilty,” he added.He said in days following the collapse, state govt moved fast. Principal secretary (home) ordered a special investigation team, while detailed technical audit was commissioned and carried out by National Forensic Sciences University. According to officials of Lucknow Development Authorit, both reports have long been submitted to govt.NFSU audit, a copy of which TOI is in possesion of, was prepared by Prof R J Shah, Dr Merool Vakil, Praveen Kumar Gupta and lab assistant Deep Patel, highlighting serious lapses. The building, used for storing engine oil and medicines, was linked illegally to an adjoining structure, violating approved map. Permission was granted only for ground and first floors, yet second floor was added without approval and without maintaining setback margins. The building had neither completion certificate nor use certificate from LDA, even though it was occupied for years.Inspections required at critical construction stages were not recorded and no revised plan was submitted for additional floor. The audit further revealed that quality of construction was far below standards. Concrete compressive strength was only 11.6 MPa compared to the required 20 MPa, steel reinforcement bars had a yield stress of 389.7 MPa instead of standard 415 MPa and column ties were hooked improperly. Columns displayed honeycombing, reinforcement was inadequate, isolated footings were misplaced and there were no structural design layouts for slabs, beams, or foundations.SIT’s preliminary findings also pointed to similar flaws, noting unauthorised construction of extra floor increased structural load, while laboratory tests showed reduced strength in beams and columns. Some reinforcement bars lacked required yield and tensile strength and overall poor workmanship was visible in quality of concrete.Families of victims said these findings only deepened frustration. “We were told about faults of the owner established by probe, but there is no concrete action on ground,” said Sanjay Sonkar, whose 28-year-old son Arun was killed in the collapse.Suman Sharma, whose husband Rakesh died, said reports identifying those responsible for faulty construction and negligence, are “merely gathering dust.” “We are demanding govt action against all individuals and agencies found responsible,” said Dr Sanmeet, brother of Jasmeet.
