AURANGABAD, April 14: The fear and panic that gripped Laturites in Killari with the devastating 1993 earthquake continues to this day. Only, now they have an added terror - that their houses may fall on their heads again, as they live their lives quaking with fear due to substandard house construction by the State-sponsored rehabilitation projects.The walls and roofs of the houses built by the State are developing cracks and holes at the slightest of pressure, says a writ petition filed before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court here. Blatant violation of the very basic fundamentals of construction technology have put the lives of the villagers occupying these houses in a precarious position and unless a court commissioner is appointed to look into the matter a second disaster could not be far away, petitioner Satish Vishwanath Lohar said, talking to The Indian Express.Lohar, who is a 29-year-old youth from Killari, initially brought the facts before the court through a letteraddressed to a division bench, which was later converted into a petition with B L Sagar Killarikar, acting as amicus curiae, following a request by the court. Construction at the rehabilitation project in Killari had been stopped by the then divisional commissioner, Rameshkumar, between July 95 and December 95, when a horde of similar complaints poured in from a number of villagers.Then collector Arvindkumar, who recommended the stoppage of work, was suddenly transferred .
