Hyderabad building collapse: A month later, GHMC still clueless about why it happened

Though it has been close to a month after the building collapse in Nanakramguda in Hyderabad, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is yet to conclusively spell out the reason for the incident and take further action. While initial reports had suggested improper structural planning, the GHMC is still reportedly awaiting a second report from JNTU experts on the quality of the building material.  The deadline to submit the report was December 31."The report was supposed to reach us last month, but there has been delay in the matter. Not just that we have also asked the group to identify and survey the neighbouring buildings for lapses in construction. But, until that report reaches us, we cannot take any action," Devender Reddy, chief city planner, GHMC told TOI. Eleven people had died last month, after the seven-storey under construction building collapsed. All the victims were construction workers and their family members who were sleeping in the cellar when the building came crashing down. The Telangana government had announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia each for the families of the dead. Following the incident, Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, who supervised the rescue work, said that the police arrested builder Satyanarayana Singh in Kerala. Police booked a case of negligence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder against him for constructing the building without permission and in violation of all rules. Satyanarayana confessed that the base foundation of the structure was constructed only for a ground plus three-floor building, but he had later decided to add three more floors.  The government also suspended a deputy commissioner of GHMC and an assistant town planning officer. A former GHMC tax inspector and a chain man were also arrested by the Gachibowli police later.  Read: It was like an explosion: Eyewitnesses recount the Hyderabad building collapse