A four-member team of the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, on Saturday visited the Lalita Park building collapse site and collected samples of the material used in the construction and the soil of the area for examination.
According to MCD officials, the CBRI team will initially find out the kind of material that was used in construction of the collapsed building. Further, soil testing was considered necessary to ascertain the material and design that would help in building stronger structures in the locality, which is near to the river bed. The matter will be taken forward thereafter.
Meanwhile, the fate of the structural safety survey of the area within 300 metres of Yamuna pushta still hangs in balance as the MCD says that it does not have adequate staff.
A senior MCD official said that the structural safety survey of the buildings in Lalita Park and surrounding areas, as ordered by the Delhi lieutenant-governor, was difficult as the number of staff available is very less. The number of personnel in the MCD’s maintenance department, which is likely to assist the CBRI experts, is not adequate. Further, the numbers in the engineering and building departments is also less than the sanctioned strength.
“We are facing problems in getting people to vacate the 38 ‘dangerous’ buildings. People are just not ready to leave. So even if we get a survey done, it will be a gigantic task to ask people to leave without providing any alternative,” said the official.
Meanwhile, the debris removal at the site came to an end four days after the incident. The work had been going on slowly to ensure that other buildings were not damaged, the officials said.
Most of the bodies recovered from the site have been identified. The authorities concerned were taking extreme precautions to ensure that the identification was done correctly, so as not to allow fake claimants to avail the compensation amount later.