The news these days seem to be about falling buildings. The obvious reasons are bad engineering, use of inferior-quality building material, and weak foundations. And then, passionate architects will aver that proper curing does not take place in the construction stage.
Urban India can vouch for the fact that its cityscape is changing rapidly. Old homes and government facilities are giving way to new ones. Ten to 20, and sometimes even a hundred, apartments, stores or offices replace the one old structure that was housed on a sprawling piece of land.
Associated necessities such as water supply and sewage disposal have been stretched beyond imagination. Though the law of the land warrants every building to leave a minimal margin space around buildings, nobody seems to be paying heed to the rule. So when the skies open up, rainwater has nowhere to go except into the clogged stormwater drains. For the rooftops are flat unlike the rural structures with sloping roofs allowing water to drain off the top. We have most buildings consciously incorporating rainwater harvesting systems, but then where is the space for the water which accumulates in the stormwater drain flow? Every inch of space has been built on. If at all there is a ribbon of land around the building, it is cemented, which means it prevents rainwater from percolating into the earth. The kind of frenzy with which buildings are jostling and elbowing one another, it is really a wonder that they seem to hold fort for quite a while before falling down like a pack of cards.
