Ghaziabad: Kamlesh Sharma, an accounts officer with the customs and central excise department, lives with his family of five on the second floor of Kaveri Tower in Vaishali. But for the past three years, she has been living in fear as her 10-storey apartment is on the GMC list of 26 ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsafe’ buildings in the city. GMC, however, claims occupants of these buildings don’t take them seriously and are reluctant to vacate them.“The plasters of this multi-story building is peeling off, its basement remains waterlogged all year round, its foundation has become weak and one look from anyone is enough to conclude that the structure could collapse any time,” says Kamlesh. “The Shahberi building collapse has only accentuated our fear.”Niranjan Prasad, another resident who lives on the fourth floor of Kaveri Tower, says, “The apartment has been reduced to skeleton with iron bars protruding from the roof and we fear that it could cave in any day. We have lodged numerous complaints with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) but to no avail and it seems that Shahberi like mishaps can only jolt the authorities of their slumber.”In the apartment complex, there are 22 such families who like Niranjan and and Kamlesh are risking their lives and that of their children, but there is no way out.“We are central government employees and most of the residents work in the customs and central excise department and this is the accommodation we have been provided with,” says Kamlesh.In Vaishali other than Kaveri Tower, Kamna Tower and Sutlej Tower also find mention in GMC’s ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsafe’ buildings.“In our survey, we found out that in city area, there are 26 ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsafe’ buildings many of which are owned by single plot owners while the rest are apartments,” Md Mouniddin, chief engineer, GMC, told TOI. “We have been regularly issuing notices to the occupants of these buildings to vacate, but nobody seems to take it seriously.”While GMC is struggling to get people to vacate the dangerous buildings, there are plans afoot by the state government to regularise illegal colonies that have sprung up in the city in violation of building bylaws and in utter disregard to safety norms.The number of such illegal colonies is around 250, says a GMC official.

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