Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Sunday initiated the demolition of a building in Qutbullapur after an attempt to raise its height failed.
House raising is the process of separating a building from its foundation and temporarily raising it with hydraulic screw jacks.
It all began when Narasimha Rao, the building owner, tried to raise the height of his G+2 building to prevent water from entering its premises.
Hyderabad: Ramp of under-construction Bairamalguda flyover falls; 8 injured
Narasimha reportedly bought the building in Srinivas Nagar Colony 25 years ago. But the new roads that were laid in the area recently, led to an increase in the height of the ground against the foundation of the building.
Subsequently, the water flowing on the road in front of the building made its way inside the premises of the establishment.
In order to get rid of the issue, Narasimha following the advice of his kin, decided to raise the height of his building.
He entrusted the raising works to a company from Vijayawada. As the works were scheduled to begin, four out of six families that resided in the building vacated it.
However, two families decided to stay back despite the lifting work.
On Saturday, hydraulic jacks were installed under the house for raising its height.
As the works progressed, the jacks tragically drifted aside resulting in the building getting inclined on the adjacent building in the neighbourhood.
According to the police, tensions prevailed in the area for a while after the people came out of their houses in a panic state fearing that the building would collapse.
Locals then alerted the police and the GHMC department about the failed house-raising attempt following which the police and the officials from the municipal department rushed to the spot.
A case was registered against Narasimha for carrying out repair work to his house without obtaining a permit from the Corporation.
GHMC officials however decided to demolish the old building and the works were initiated on Sunday.
