Corporation identifies 40 unsafe school buildings in Chennai, final decision to be taken soon

The Greater Chennai Corporation has identified as many as 40 buildings in its schools that are in weaker conditions and posing danger to students.

According to a Chennai Corporation source, the buildings are in different school premises. "Some of the weak buildings have cracks on its walls and ceilings. A report has been submitted to the headquarters for further action," the source said.

Chennai Corporation has constituted a team of officials belonging to the education wing to conduct a survey across the city to ascertain the safety of school buildings after a school building in Tirunelveli collapsed and killed three students, recently.

The team commenced the survey on Monday and the same was concluded on Thursday after visiting all the schools.

"Details of the 40 buildings, which have to be strengthened, have been given to buildings department of the civic body. The engineers will make a call whether to demolish the buildings and reconstruct or to strengthen them by renovating," an official said.

Engineers from the building department will conduct a separate inspection of the buildings before taking a decision.

Apart from 40 weaker buildings, the team also have identified 32 buildings in the schools that are in an unused state. All the unused buildings will be demolished.

The civic body runs 281 schools, including higher secondary schools and high schools, in which more than 1.10 lakh students are studying.

After the Tirunelveli incident, several district administrations in the state are conducting a quality assessments of government buildings.

Meanwhile, the civic body has started the renovation of two Chennai Corporation schools and tenders have been floated to renovate three schools under CITIIS initiatives under the smart city mission project. Also, estimations have been prepared for other few schools.