One of the unsafe buildings at Lingaraj Market in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 8: The municipal corporation plans to conduct a survey of its buildings to spot the unsafe ones.

The move comes after the collapse of a building in Thane, Maharashtra, in which 70 people were killed.

The engineering section of the civic body will conduct the survey. “We will conduct the survey before monsoon arrives,” said a senior official of the engineering wing. The civic body has a number of its own buildings, including community halls, market buildings and kalyan mandaps.

Though the corporation had undertaken a similar survey last year, it is yet to take action against the unsafe buildings in the city. The engineering wing had identified five such structures that needed urgent repairs or had to be demolished. The five structures include its six staff quarters at Kharavela Nagar and Kali Mandir Market in Unit-VI. The civic body had also declared the Lingaraj Market complex near Lingaraj temple unsafe two years ago.

A Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation official said the civic body had not been able to take action against the unsafe buildings as the occupants hesitated to vacate the buildings. “The corporation will shortly take action against the unsafe buildings,” said mayor Anant Narayan Jena.

Sources in the corporation said the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act (OMC) 2003 empowers the municipal commissioner to take action even on unsafe structures in colonies built by other government agencies. “Unsafe buildings pose a threat to public life. The OMC Act gives the municipal commissioner the power to demolish structures from public space, if needed, but only after due certification by experts,” said a senior official.

Apart from buildings of the civic body, government agencies such as the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, general administration department, state housing board and the buildings division of the public works department has a number of buildings in the city.

The Telegraph had carried reports on March 2011 and August 2012 respectively, on unsafe buildings built long ago, by the general administration department at Rental Colony and Chandrasekharpur by the development authority.

However, chief engineer of buildings S.R. Sethi ruled out any threat to the buildings that had been built by their department.

“Before making any construction, we ensure that all the guidelines are followed. We conduct frequent repairs wherever needed so there is no threat to the buildings,” said Sethi.