Quake: Bid to bail out builder ?

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, FEB. 25. Caught in the cobweb of politician-builder nexus, the Rajkot police have allegedly tried to force the residents to withdraw a complaint against an influential builder - the son of a Cabinet Minister in Gujarat.

After the Finance and Revenue Minister, Mr. Vajubhai Vala, reportedly took strong exception to the police registering a complaint against his builder son, Mr. Ketan Vala, who is claimed to be one of the four partners of the company which constructed the Race Course Park housing society in Rajkot, police are alleged to be looking for loopholes to bail out the Minister's son.

Though the Race Course Park society buildings have not collapsed, they have developed huge cracks making them unsafe for occupation. While Mr. Vala denied that his son was in any way involved in the construction or sale of the flats in the society, the local residents claimed that they possessed more than 450 documents signed by Mr. Ketan Vala as the builder.

Following the residents' claim before the media, police contacted them individually to submit ``proof'' of Mr. Ketan Vala's signatures as the builder. While a police spokesman said Mr. Vala's name as one of the builders of the damaged housing society had been ``given out in haste,'' the city Police Commissioner, Mr. Sudhir Sinha, said no action could be taken against any of them till the report of the forensic science laboratory about the standard of materials used was received and other related issues were cleared.

Mr. Vala is also involved in another controversy in Ahmedabad over the condition of the ``Shivalik'' commercial complex. He admitted that he was a partner of Mr. Chiman Agarwal in the construction of the Shivalik, while his another son, Mr. Bhoudeep Vala, partnered with the same builder to construct the City Gold multiplex. But even as Mr. Vala denied that he was influencing police to spare his business partner, the Gujarat High Court, on the basis of a public interest litigation petition, has issued notices to Mr. Vala and his partners as well as the Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner, the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority and others during further hearing on February 26.

Mr. Agarwal, in turn, is the partner of Mr. Satish Shah, whose Shikhar multi-storeyed complex collapsed in the earthquake killing 98 people. But Mr. Agarwal claims that he had no business interest in Shikhar. Mr. Shah, against whom an arrest warrant under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA) had been issued, had approached the High Court for quashing the warrant on the ground that it was a deliberate Government attempt to divert attention from its own failure in handling the post- earthquake situation.

Surprisingly, while the move to demolish Shivalik, which was earlier declared unsafe beyond repair, had been stalled, the city civic body has temporarily withdrawn the building use permission, but has not disconnected the water, power and other civic services provided to the building.

Two more builders held

PTI reports:

Two more builders were today arrested in connection with the collapse of a multi-storeyed structure here constructed by them, resulting in the death of four residents during the recent earthquake. The builders were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, police said.

The two, Mr. Babubhai Dayabhai Patel and Mr. Natwarlal Motilal Patel, builders of the Siddhi apartment in Shahibaug, have also been charged with violation of the Gujarat Ownership Flats Act which seeks the builder to take the client into confidence about the material used and maintenance of quality standards. If found guilty, they may face imprisonment up to 10 years, police added.

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