Dangerous tilt

A three-storey high-rise building in the bubbling Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was reported to have tilted to one side, presumably due to the construction of another building on a nearby plot. The incident triggered fear and anxiety among people in the locality as it is open threat to public safety. It is reported that the building is unoccupied though rumours spread fast that it is being evacuated hastily. The reports of faulty and substandard construction is very common in Pakistan particularly in the sprawling urban areas but no attempt seems to be forthcoming to tackle this very dangerous issue. Despite countless incidents of collapsing buildings such structures proliferate and hardly any one takes notice of this hazard. It is consistently reported that substandard building collapse without warning causing plenty of loss to human life but no strict punitive action is taken against the planners and builders letting them free and emboldened to keep on undertaking this dangerous exercise. There are plenty of regulations against such activity but no one get punished, and even in many cases, not even apprehended. TW