Nov. 29: Guwahati development minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said people in the hills should ensure that the kind of houses they construct are in strict conformity with the National Building Code 2005.

The minister raised the issue while speaking at a two-day workshop on the National Building Code of India (2005) today.

The Institution of Engineers (India), Assam State Centre, and the Bureau of Indian Standards had jointly organised the workshop.

Construction engineers, architects, planners and administrators attended the workshop to deliberate on the building code and come out with recommendations for future development programmes in the region.

“People living in the hills are not aware if the kind of buildings they are constructing adhere to building norms. This could be dangerous and it is necessary that the National Building Code’s suggestions are taken into account during construction,” Sarma said.

He added that many people have died in the city because of landslides. The structure of the buildings needs to be looked into, to ensure that they withstand such calamities.

The minister said a lot of flats are being made in the city without any regard for building norms. Moreover, these have no proper parking arrangements.

“We should not interpret the National Building Code according to our own interests,” he said, adding that very few buildings have incorporated safety measures.

There has been a lot of construction in the past few years, both in the government and in the private sector, as the construction sector has made a tremendous contribution to the GDP of the state.

“The quality of construction is equally important, as merely constructing a building will not suffice,” Sarma said, adding that one may end up inviting disaster, if the constructions do not adhere to the building code.

The National Building Code is a comprehensive building code, a national instrument providing guidelines to regulate construction activities across the country.

It serves as a model code for all agencies involved in building construction be it the public works departments, other government construction departments or private construction agencies.

The code mainly contains administrative regulations, development control rules and general building requirements, fire safety requirements, stipulations regarding material, structural design and construction and building and plumbing services.

The NBC 2005 says that for multi-storey buildings, which are 15 metres or more in height and for special buildings like educational, industrial, the building sanction shall be done in two stages — the first stage for planning clearance and second stage for building permit clearance. In stage one, apart from submitting the usual plan, information regarding access for fire vehicles has to be submitted.

V. Suresh, an architect of the NBC, said the code should be included in the building bylaws of the civic agencies. General manager (construction) of NF Railways, Shiv Kumar, was also present on the occasion.