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ShareWhat will happen after those who died in the Laxmi Chhaya building crash are buried? The building itself will be buried, to be replaced by another one of equally uncertain pedigree.
Soon after that, the judicial probe report, announced with much fanfare in the state assembly, will be published and buried, too.
That's not being overly cynical, just normally observant. The Laxmi Chhaya building in Borivili isn't the first one to crash in Mumbai; it's only the first one this monsoon.
There will probably be another one or two, and we will see the same scenes of gut-wrenching wretchedness in our media, and we will hear the same shrill cries from the municipal corporation and the builder and the residents, as they play a high decibel game of Passing the Buck.
In the end, nothing will happen, except that for too many families and too many people, it will be THE END in a brutal, final way.
Who is to blame? Actually, everyone.
It starts from the moment a building plan is sent for approval. The building regulations of the corporation are as stringent as they need to be.
But that's on paper. Unless these are enforced by the authorities, they mean nothing. If we go by visible evidence, the rules are being ignored left, right and centre.
For example, each building is supposed to have a certain number of slots for visitors' parking. When was the last time you actually came across these mythical beasts?
Similarly, the fire brigade is required to ensure that every new structure, especially multi-storey ones, have a specified number of fire-fighting equipment. Yet whenever there is a real fire, hey presto, the equipment seems to have disappeared into thin air!
If this is the case with easily verifiable things, what assurance is there that the beams and columns, which hold up a structure, are built to the approved proportions?
If connivance between architect, builder, contractor and the (un)concerned authorities can exist in one area, surely it can exist in all others?
In this kind of sordid scenario, are we safe in assuming that at least some architects, builders and contractors follow the rules because (a) they have a conscience and (b) they care about their reputation? I used to think so. Now I only hope so.
Once the building is handed over, it is at the mercy of its occupants. Internal alterations are to be expected, but a cardinal (and commonsensical) rule is that they shouldn't touch the load-bearing structural elements of the building like beams and columns.
Yet these dangerous changes are done with the lower rung officials of the Corporation being 'persuaded' to turn a blind eye.
But you can't just blame officials, many of whom are poorly paid, when fat cats are so eager to bend the rules. Old buildings housing the well off are constantly being endangered by the excessive use of marble flooring which adds unnecessary extra weight, and by the addition of extra bathrooms which always result in water leakage which is also bad for a building's health.
Having said that, the case of Laxmi Chhaya building is distinctly odd. It is being said that the collapse was due to shops on the ground floor refusing to carry out structural repairs to columns and beams.
To me, the question is: Why did a building, not yet 30 years old, need these major repairs? The obvious answer is that its design and construction were defective to start with.
Will the judicial enquiry go into these questions? Will it indict those who need to be indicted, whether architect, structural consultant, contractor, builder or occupants? And will whoever is indicted spend time in jail and be asked to pay compensation to the victims?
Unless this happens, Laxmi Chhaya will be just one more building collapse to be added to the long list of Mumbai structures which rise, fall and rise again, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
