By Our Reporter
The Assam type buildings, which never
failed to add a special charm to the landscape of Shillong and its suburbs are vanishing, giving way to concrete structures, choking the already congested city.
Another worry is the fear of large scale damage that may come about owing to any possible earthquake, damages that may increase thanks to the absence of these earthquake resistant Assam type buildings.
While the owners of these Assam type buildings cite maintenance costs as the prime reason for demolishing the age old structures, the main factor on the contrary, seems to be urbanization and population pressure.
The plan of many owners of Assam type buildings is to construct RCC buildings mostly aimed at renting out the same, with the growing demand for accommodations.
However, the reckless destruction of Assam type buildings pose dangers since the whole state is earthquake prone placed at high risk seismic zone of 5.
There were more than 250 tremors felt in the Northeast including Meghalaya for the last 10 years as per the records available.
The private builders in Shillong deplored that the residents are now converting their Assam type buildings which are light and earthquake resistant than the concrete buildings.
“It is my personal opinion that Assam typing is more safe for the high seismic zones like the Northeast”, said a builder in Shillong.
According to him, if there is a major earthquake, there is danger due to the haphazard constructions, which are also seen to flout norms at times.
The Meghalaya government said that it was taking initiative to see that the builders follow the prescribed building codes.
A civil engineer of a Meghalaya government undertaking said that the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) makes it mandatory to adhere to the building codes.
“We design the buildings considering the seismic factor with requirement of beams as per the earthquake resistant norms and send them to MUDA, and subsequently, MUDA gives approval after checking the prescribed norms”, he said.
The execution of the projects are supposed to be inspected by the respective engineers in case of government buildings and by MUDA in case of private buildings
Some Shillong residents said that the rules are very often violated during the construction of buildings.
They also pointed out that the decision of the Meghalaya cabinet made in the past to amend the building by-laws aimed at allowing constructions from the present height of 42 feet to 65 feet (four floors) for residential buildings and the commercial buildings upto 95 feet (6 floors) will result in misuse as there is hardly any enforcement of even the existing Meghalaya Building By-Laws Act 2001 which limits the height to 42 feet.
A senior official with the Urban Affairs department said that as long as politicians head the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA), there are chances of them not enforcing the building rules.
In 1990s, senior government officials were the heads of MUDA, but subsequently from 2000 onwards, politicians began to head MUDA making it difficult for the officers to strictly enforce the rules due to political interference.
A former official with the Upper Shillong Seismological Observatory, said that the Northeast will never experience a tsunami like disaster but the only impending threat is the damage from earthquakes.
He wanted the people, the government and other related agencies not to forget the earthquake resistant building codes while constructing the buildings.
“There is no chance of predicting the earthquakes and if an earthquake of high intensity occurs, there will be devastation, hence there is a need to ensure that the buildings are constructed taking into account the seismic factors and the existing Assam type buildings can some way resist earthquakes “, he said.