Bengaluru’s ‘Leaning Tower’ demolished, items worth Rs 18 lakh recovered and returned to owners
Kolkata-based occupant puts loss at Rs 50 lakh, gets back valuables worth Rs 5 lakh
Senior BBMP officials Manoz Jain and KR Pallavi laud demolition contractor for returning valuables to owners
BENGALURU:
Not only was the demolition of the ‘Leaning Tower’ of Kasturinagar in the city completed in 72 hours, the demolition contractor was able to extricate valuables worth Rs 18 lakh belonging to two families occupying the building, of which jewellery and cash worth Rs 5 lakh was returned to one of the occupants.
The contractor, MG Krishnamurthy, who has been in the demolition profession for the last 25 years, scoured through the entire debris, and handed over diamond and gold jewellery worth Rs 18 lakh, cash worth Rs 9,000, a laptop, a hard disk, a TV worth Rs 1.5 lakh, a wedding outfit and other valuable items to their owners.
On October 7, the four-floor building was found tilted dangerously in the North-Eastern part of the city at 2nd Cross, Doctor’s Layout, Kasturinagar (ward 50). It was constructed on stilts and had four floors with eight flats, 2 flats per floor.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta ordered the immediate demolition of the building and also suspended the ward’s Assistant Engineer Shankarappa for ‘dereliction of duty’ – in other words, for failing to prevent the illegal construction of an extra floor to the building.
The demolition contract was awarded to Peenya-based Shree Chaitanya Services owner MH Krishnamurthy. “The challenging task was completed within a span of 72 hours without damaging two neighboring buildings,” Krishnamurthy told TheBengaluruLive.
Grateful family
Thanking Krishnamurthy, Kolkata-based Madhu Agarwal (55) said, “I was not able to sleep properly for the last three days. I do not have words to thank you (Krishnamurthy) as these things were most valuable for me.” Madhu’s son Ankush, who is a chartered accountant, also thanked the contractor, saying, “Altogether, I have lost around Rs 50 lakh worth of items in the building collapse. I was staying on the ground floor and it was I who alerted everyone to come out safely. I could manage to save my bike which was parked inside the building. The building tilted and collapsed as soon as I took my bike out.” He added, “I have got back valuables worth Rs 5 lakh from the debris and I thank Krishnamurthy. But I have lost my washing machine, fridge, oven, Aquaguard, AC, two phones, two laptops, a hairdryer, a sofa, beds and other items which are worth Rs 50 lakh.”
Ankush said they could not take out even a spare set of clothes while escaping the tilting building. “There are more valuables still in the debris and I hope they can be recovered,” he said.
BBMP’s East zone Zonal Commissioner Manoz Jain and Joint Commissioner KR Pallavi lauded the contractor for handing over the valuables to their owners.
Also Read: Bengaluru building turns into ‘Leaning Tower’!
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