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Real estate czars blamed for deaths in Indian quake

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February 5, 2001 

AHMADABAD-- (AP) - When they churned out dreams for Gujarat's middle class, India's real estate czars were king: they drove in swank cars, lived in posh penthouses, and made fortunes.

Now many of them are in hiding, pursued by accusations of murder and fraud after their lofty - and allegedly flimsy - buildings turned into rubble in western India's Jan. 26 earthquake.

By Sunday, complaints against 21 construction companies had been lodged with police in Ahmadabad, Gujarat state's commercial capital.

"The real estate sector is the largest cesspool of corruption in India, because it involves the largest costs," said architect Ravindra Vasavada, a historical preservation expert and member of several government architectural committees.

The full magnitude of the disaster in Gujarat has yet to be measured. Assessments of the death toll by state officials range from 11,844 to 16,435. State authorities have estimated the toll could eventually hit 35,000.

The number of confirmed dead was expected to jump on Monday, when demolition crews clear away the ruins of larger apartment blocks and uncover more bodies. The injured numbered 66,758, Gujarat state officials said.

Authorities have cleared bodies from all but three of 400 villages affected by the quake, Gujarat officials said Sunday. Many bodies, however, remained buried in larger towns and cities such as Bhuj, where narrow streets blocked bulldozers and cranes from moving in.

Gujarat state Home Minister Haren Pandya said aid planes had arrived from 97 countries.

"We have experienced a borderless world," he told reporters. "Everybody has helped us."

Health worries in the quake zone are mounting. There are more than 600,000 homeless who lack food, clothing or sanitation, and respiratory infections are spreading. The quake severely affected 35 million in 1,016 villages and eight towns. The total population of the region is 45 million.

Relief workers are rushing to keep pace. Aid has been flowing into the quake area from around the world. On Saturday, U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes brought tents, blankets, water tankers and forklifts.

A British Airways plane arrived in Bombay late Saturday carrying 36 tons of shoes, blankets, tents, clothes, medicine and plastic sheets donated by Hindu temples in Britain.

In the aftermath of the quake, scrutiny has turned to the real estate kings who have transformed Ahmadabad from a merchant city into a throbbing metropolis.

Criminal complaints were lodged against them and many apartment dwellers wanted to assault them, saying poorly constructed buildings had increased the death toll.

Experts said greedy construction companies used inferior material, flouted architectural norms and fed into a cycle of corruption and inefficiency that also involved bureaucrats and elected officials.

Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya estimated that 80 percent of the buildings in Ahmadabad were poorly constructed.

"This is the dream of all concerned with earthquake safety - to see that the buildings are protected as far as possible. But this is not happening," said S.K. Srivastav, president of the Indian Meteorological Society.

The story of Ahmadabad is the story of nearly every booming city in India.

In a nation of 1 billion people, the population explosion has reduced the floor space available to each urban family. As millions more rush into the urban areas from smaller towns, land prices have soared.

To meet the booming demand, some builders reclaim land from the sea and village ponds, snuffing out crucial water resources. They bribe officials to overlook poor workmanship or code violations. Builders do not need licenses to start up business in India, and quality checks are rare.

For instance, a survey by engineers after the earthquake showed that pillars were not secured to foundations with steel reinforcements, as required. Sinking the pillars alone into the concrete saved up to 25 percent on costs - and made the buildings much weaker.

When the earthquake struck, many such buildings - several less than six months old - swayed and collapsed under their own weight. Walls made of adulterated cement buckled. Many buildings tilted to one side and crumbled.

In the collapsed Mansi Apartments in Ahmadabad, a large swimming pool was built in a 10th floor penthouse. The pool was wrecked in the quake, and 50 tons of water hurtled down, causing much of the damage, local news reports said.

"When the quake came, the kind of buildings which started toppling were those with illegal and poor quality of construction," said Vasavada, the architect. His 250-year-old house stood intact, while half a dozen brand new constructions were razed to the ground.

On Sunday, army engineers mounted hydraulic cranes with huge swinging metal balls, forklifts and cranes to punched and claw into buildings designated dangerous by authorities. Thirty buildings were identified for demolition, but a survey of 2,000 more buildings has started.

At the Parijat building, marked for demolition, hundreds of former residents scrounged for belongings Sunday before the wreckers came.

Amid the rubble, Sudhakar Kamath, 60, looked for the owner of the construction company that had sold him his apartment late last year. His family survived, but he lost his home.

"I have been cheated. I gave him my lifelong savings," he said. "Will he be punished?"