BUILDING CODE: It specifies the standards for construction to ensure public health, safety, and welfare. It has to be scrupulous followed by architects, engineers, interior designers, real estate developers, subcontractors, manufacturers of building products and materials, facility managers, tenants, and others involved with the construction and maintenance of civil structures. Health, electric, plumbing, sanitary, site drainage, fire, structural safety inspectors, regulators, insurance companies, and civic bodies should ensure these regulations are followed and enforced without fear or favour.
LAND USE AND ZONING REGULATIONS: Buildings collapsing or getting washed away is a common occurrence during monsoon as happened in Wayanad district of Kerala recently. The Himalayas and areas prone to earthquakes, coastal areas exposed to nature’s fury, and flood plains are especially vulnerable. Building collapses are often caused by violation of land use regulations in flood and landslide-prone areas; weak foundations over landfills, coastal erosion, and soil liquefaction-prone areas; poor design, nonstandard construction materials, and procedures; and lack of earthquake-resistant construction. Ban on construction along the sea coast and around hazardous areas and wildlife habitats are often flouted. The hazardous Union Carbide industry in a populated area like Bhopal and Wuhan Institute of Virology in a large city had disastrous consequences. Bengaluru, located on the Deccan Plateau, at an elevation of over 900 m (3,000 ft.) above sea level, never had flooding till illegal constructions blocked storm water canals and solid waste-filled lakes. This also resulted in inadequate groundwater replenishment followed by summer drought.
This is also the story in Chennai and many Indian cities. Floods cause loss of life and property and lead to waterborne infections. Later stagnant waters lead to mosquito menace and diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Zika virus, and encephalitis. Geotagging of properties can help identify illegal urban land use and construction.
OCCUPANCY RULES: Specific building usage regulations cover storage of flammable substances, the number of occupants permitted in the building, and the permitted purpose for which each part of the building may be used, like parking, storage, facilities, etc. Basement flooding of a coaching centre library, leading to the death of three students preparing for the UPSC exams in Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhi is a prime example of violation of occupancy rules. Basements have restricted lighting, ventilation, and drainage. Its misuse as a library with exit-entry controls led to this tragedy when flooding occurred due to heavy rains and blocked storm water drainage of the area.
SPECIFIC CODES: Seismic code applies to earthquake-prone areas. Hurricane, flood, and tsunami resistance requirements apply to disaster-prone areas. Solid waste disposal codes to reduce bird strikes; height restrictions and anti-collision markers on high structures exist around airports. Centrally air-conditioned buildings, habitats, passenger facilities, and underground structures have to ensure filtration of circulated air and adequate fresh air as most air-conditioning systems recirculate nearly 95% of the air. Hygiene standards, safety, and security at food outlets are also codified but inadequately enforced. Fire codes minimize the risk of a fire and ensure safe evacuation in the event of such an emergency.
The fire-resistance rating of walls, roofs, flooring, claddings, and fittings is codified. They include means of egress, large easily approachable external exits, their sizes, and locations as lift shafts get filled with smoke during a fire. Instead, buildings are often fitted with flammable materials like polyurethane foam that produce toxic smoke, fire exits are blocked with dumped materials, and basements are used to store flammable materials. Short circuits and unsafe storage and usage of gases like LPG, and oxygen are major fire hazards as happened on 26 May 2024 in a new-born baby care hospital in Vivek Vihar, Delhi.
EXTERIOR RESTRICTIONS: These specify setbacks to the building for light, ventilation, and safety, restrictions regarding parking, and traffic impact based on road width and access. The fire in the Delhi hospital was in a very congested area with inadequate building setbacks leading to spread to the adjacent building. Poor access to fire engines and insufficient water supply only delayed control of the blaze. Exterior restrictions are specified to ensure easy and fast access for emergency services such as fire engines, ambulances, rescue equipment like earth movers and cranes during a building collapse, fallen trees, and power cables, natural or manmade disasters like gas cylinder explosions, or terror attacks.
Additional codes apply to residences or places of business, playgrounds, swimming pools, and special construction objects such as canopies, signs, pedestrian walkways, parking lots, and radio and television antennas. On 13 May 2024, a 100-foot-tall illegal billboard collapsed on a fuel station in Mumbai during a dust storm killing 14 and injuring over 60. Environmental protection and sustainability, traffic and pollution control, energy efficiency, and water conservation regulations need urgent implementation. Poorly lit roads and public places are an invitation to crime. Potholed, poorly designed roads and speed breakers lead to numerous traffic accidents and loss of life.
CIVIC APATHY: Poor maintenance by civic authorities and facility owners leads to many deaths due to flooding, fires, collapses, etc. The September 1994 plague that struck Surat was caused by houses and hotels dumping garbage in drains and streets and poor solid waste management by the municipal corporation. In 1997, four outbreaks of Leptospirosis in India, including in a medical college hostel in Mysore, killed 90 people. It is the most common zoonotic infection in the world and follows contamination of drinking water with rat urine. Only active municipal-private-public participation can improve matters and prevent zoonotic epidemics as was achieved in Surat after the Plague of 1994.
URBAN IMPROVEMENT: Community members should be involved in urban planning processes and plans using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), crowdsourced mobile phone sensing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence that meet present and future needs including public transport, healthcare, and social services. It is high time civic authorities enforce the rules and maintain the urban facilities. Public apathy and regulatory authorities’ negligence and corruption are a deadly urban cancer. This needs urgent control by public and media pressure and legal action.
Dr P.S. Venkatesh Rao is Consultant Endocrine, Breast & Laparoscopic Surgeon, Bengaluru.