Architects reaction to Saturday's fire incident in Ludhiana

Say, strict building byelaws implementation required in Ludhiana City to really make it livable/smart city
Ludhiana, May 20, 2018: Ludhiana city with a population of about 20 lakh with mix land use and no proper/excellent futuristic master plan will keep on suffering like yesterday’s fire, Gill Chowk Flyover repair, Jagraon Bridge flyover repair etc till all stakeholders sit together for days in city or state capital till proper conclusions are made.

In a statement here on Sunday, Ar Sanjay Goel, Director Ludhiana Smart City Ltd and Chairman IIA Punjab Chapter added apart from mix land use another major reason is presence of multi government agencies with multi offices within city with least coordination.

He added majority people have no fear of environment, nature, byelaws, fine, and even dismantling of their illegal buildings.

“All this happened in past few decades only as people are least bothered about local government rules and its actions. In majority cases government officials have not taken right actions at right time and number of building issues are even held up in courts”, he said.

Ar Goel said not only about fire fighting people are least bothered even about structural stability of their own buildings. People had constructed many times more areas than permissible for profits and comforts unlike neighbourhood city of Chandigarh.

Majority narrow lanes in old city have tall buildings whereas generally building height should not be more than road width in front of it.

People in past years had added additional upper floors or even unauthorized basements in old unsafe buildings, he revealed.

He asked why rules implementation is so weak in Ludhiana/Punjab and so strong in our capital city of Chandigarh.

He suggested that people must themselves be careful about earthquake etc natural disasters as Ludhiana falls in critical zone four. All buildings must have NOC from structural consultants, fire consultants, architects and government building departments.

Fire safety act too must be implemented immediately with very strict guidelines and fine, he said, adding almost one fire incident is taking place in upcoming smart city.

He opined that Ludhiana must have single agency like Ludhiana Development Authority (LDA) rather than multi agencies with multi offices.