‘Dilapidated, unsafe for public use’: Surat Collector seeks govt nod for demolition of towers at Nanpura Bahumali

The Nanpura Bahumali consists of buildings A, B, and C — of which A has ground plus eight floors, B has ground plus two floors and C has ground plus eight.

The Road and Buildings (R&B) department, a few weeks ago, had carried out a survey of these three “dilapidated” buildings and found that these were not safe for public use. A large number of people visit offices of different government departments daily, and the state of the buildings poses a danger to them. As per the R&B department, the estimated cost of repair of these buildings were found to be high.

The department subsequently wrote to the Surat District Collector, asking it to get these buildings demolished. R&B department officials also started issuing notices to the offices of different state government departments, asking officials to vacate the offices and shift elsewhere.

Talking to The Indian Express, Superintendent Engineer with the R&B department, Prashant Chaudhary, said: “Bahumali Building was constructed in 1977, and the state of the building at present is poor and unsafe for public use. Earlier, different courts of the Surat district were located in these buildings on different floors, but then new court buildings were constructed and they were shifted. The building also used to house offices of several top police officers, but those were also relocated to the newly built Police Bhavan later. The empty offices were then allotted to different departments of the state government. Through the District Collector we have instructed departments to vacate offices and rent other offices, as the buildings would be demolished.”

He further said, “A major issue here is parking. The parking area on the ground floor is occupied by lawyers and typists, who have set up their desks there. Several departments have already vacated their offices. Only a few are now left, and they will also be vacated soon.”

“We are yet to decide on and plan the future of these places… There is ample space in the high-rise building of Surat Seva Sadan, and some of the offices will be shifted there,” Chaudhary added.