One year after a massive fire gutted the eight-storey building of Chennai Silks on Usman Road, T Nagar, the government has given its approval for the construction of a similar multi-storey building on the same site.

According to reports, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority officials stated that an application seeking permission for planning and construction of an eight-storey building with a basement and ground floor, was filed.

The application was reportedly filed with the multi-storey building panel in mid-May. Chennai Silks also needs an NOC from the traffic police to be submitted. The total area of construction is 1.10 lakh square feet. The government has reportedly issued an order giving a nod to the construction. 

Background

The eight-storey building of popular textiles brand Chennai Silks went up in flames last May. The fire which continued for close to 11 hours caused significant damage to the building and major loss in business for the company.

The fire began at 4.30am on the morning of May 31, reportedly due to short circuit. While 15 fire tenders and three sky lifts were deployed, relief efforts were hampered by the inability of fire personnel to access the interiors of the building.

For many hours, fire personnel doused the fire by spraying water from the centre of the T Nagar flyover, directly opposite the building.

Members of the fire brigade couldn't even enter the seven-storey building because of the large clouds of black smoke. They were forced to break down parts of the building's facade to let the smoke out.

Fire safety officials had to further depend on private water tankers to help douse the fire.

The first floor, according to fire officers, contained the jewellery section and they suspected that the fire caused huge monetary loss.