Aurangabad: Residents of two dilapidated buildings in Begumpura area had a narrow escape after both the structures collapsed in the wee hours of Friday.The buildings came down like a pack of cards minutes after the residents got out of it. The first structure to collapse was a three-storeyed building, followed by the neighbouring two-storeyed building. The fire brigade authorities have claimed that both the buildings are about a century old.The fire brigade received a call at 5.42 am, an hour after the incident, following which it rushed to the spot. Chief fire officer RK Sure, who has been leading the operation for clearing the debris, said, “The process of clearing the debris is underway. The first building to collapse is suspected to be 100 years old, while the second one was also few decades old.”The occupants maintained that they first noticed that their building has tilted in an unusual manner. Anticipating that it may crumble down, they raised alarm.Resident and owner of three-storeyed building Krushna Raut (40) said, “In the wee hours, I saw mud and portions of the building coming down and noticed that the building has tilted. I immediately raised an alarm and rushed my family and other residents out of the building. Minutes after we stepped out, the entire building came down. In this building, apart from the family of the landlord, there were five more families residing as tenants.”Authorities maintained the residents comprising several women and kids of both the buildings left all their belongings including cash, ornaments and clothes and rushed out of the structures to save their lives.Resident of the other building Arun Pardeshi said, “After the neighbouring building collapsed, I realised that even our building is coming down. I woke my wife and lifted my kids, who were still sleeping and ran out of house.”While stepping out, he woke up his younger brother and other members of the family living on the first floor, saving all the members of their family.The civic authorities, as part of its pre-monsoon preparations, every year serves notices to owners of all the dilapidated buildings, while asking the property owners to demolish the structures on their own within a week else the civic body would execute the task and collect demolition charges and fine from them.Sources in the civic body informed that each year to be on a safer side, the civic body issue notices only to complete formality. An official said, “In the past three years, the civic body has demolished around five buildings even though there are many high-risk category structures situated in different parts of the city.”Following the instructions from the state, the civic body carried out a survey in the city, and a number of commercial and residential buildings and they were divided in to hazardous for human life, equally dangerous and need immediate repair, while the remaining were regarded as unsafe for residing.

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