Red alert at Lansdowne Building

In the wake of a shop roof collapse that was situated inside the 120-yearold Lansdowne building killing

four persons, the district administration declared it as prohibited area and red alert has been sounded around

the structures. The police have put up barricades blocking roads leading to the building, a prominent landmark and business centre that housed restaurants, book shops, stationery shops and printing press for decades. Round the clock security has been provided to the building. The corporation officials have recruited people to clear weeds on the dilapidated structure. Presiding over a meeting held here on Sunday, District- in-charge Minister S A Ramadas said that a threemember committee comprising renowned engineers

and expert Vishwanath, Syed Shakeeb Ur Rehman and others would study the structure and submit its report

and recommendations within a week. Based on the report, the officials would decide whether to repair or

demolish the building. Ramadas said that the government would pay Rs 1.5 lakh as compensation to each

of the deceased victim’s family on Saturday. Other tenants would be allowed to take out their belongings

from the shops within a week, the minister added. Minister Regrets Delayed Decision Ramadas said that the incident would not have occurred if they had taken a decision on Lansdowne status on August 4 meeting, as

they had discussed the issue in detail. MLC G Madhusudhan said that the government should take up the issue seriously and also seek experts opinion on condition of other heritage structures in city.

Referring to the Rajasthan government rebuilding many of its heritage structures without compromising on its

style, the MLC said after renovation the structures should be reallocated to the present tenants. If necessary there should also be provisions for cellar parking in the new structure, he added.

MLA Tanveer Sait alleged that while the Mysore City Corporation had collected rent from the tenants it did not spent any money on maintenance or restoration of the structures. He told reporters that the tragedy

would not have occurred if there was timely intervention by the corporation and urged them to make temporary

arrangements for the tenants. The meeting was attended by MLA Sathyanarayana, MCCI president Sudahakar

Shetty, DC P S Vastrad, police commissioner K L Sudheer and others.

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