A disaster was averted in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur city after a three-storeyed building near the Mani Hotel Centre on Nandivelugu Road collapsed on Saturday.
The inmates of the building had recently been evacuated, as the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) took up road widening work a few months ago and was demolishing a part of the building, after issuing notices to the owner.
The Hindu reported that K Narasimha Rao had built it 12 years ago and leased out portions of it, adding that locals blamed the GMC contractors for digging drains, close to the building.
Following the collapse, Municipal Commissioner C Anuradha inspected the site and ordered an enquiry. She also told mediapersons that the building was structurally weak, which led to its collapse.
"The GMC had already issued notices to encroachers to remove their structures but this building owner constructed two more floors without any support and hence stern action would be taken against him.” she was quoted as saying.
The entire collapse was caught on camera and shows the building slowly tilting, before it collapses with a bang, snapping some electric wires on the way.
Watch two videos of the incident that were captured, below.
In May this year, the Hyderabad High Court sentenced then GMC Commissioner S Nagalakshmi, to one month simple imprisonment, after the latter colluded with a builder for an illegal construction at Kothapet.
The court was hearing a petition filed by one Dr Murali, who had first brought the illegal construction to light in front of the court, in September last year.
The construction was reportedly taking place without the permission of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), which is overlooking the building of Andhra's new capital, Amaravati.
However, despite a court order directing authorities to stop all construction activity, the petitioner alleged that work went on, and filed a contempt case in the HC.
In the first week of April, Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was reportedly irked with ‘unplanned’ private constructions at the entrance of the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi.
According to reports, Naidu asked CRDA officials to come out with a comprehensive plan to address the issue of illegal constructions in the capital region.