Carlton still awaits clearance

A year after the tragedy, the building is still undergoing renovations; authorities say they will give the nod only after thorough inspections

Carlton still awaits clearance

A year after the tragedy, the building is still undergoing renovations; authorities say they will give the nod only after thorough inspections

It will be exactly one year today since a fire claimed nine lives at Carlton Towers because of a faulty electrical wire. But even after all this while, the building's condition remains unchangedu00a0-- broken windowpanes, tattered walls and floor tiles, and a lock on the door. With old members of the Carlton Towers association committee gone, a new committee is trying to revive the old glory of the building.

Men at work: Workers repair the lifts that got damaged because of
the fire. Pic/Ramesh HS

Anurag Jain, ex-president of the committee said, "I resigned immediately after the fire. The building was mostly run by each offices' own admin department anyway. We had a meeting on February 13, and we decided to pool in some money for the maintenance.
u00a0
Everyone who owns an office here has paid for the building restoration, since there was no insurance money and the corpus fund was also not enough to substantiate the cost. Once the NOCs are acquired from the BBMP, BESCOM and fire department, the offices can begin to function normally."

Mohan Menon, a member of the new committee said, "We wonder how long the clearance is going to take, since there are various government bodies involved. I can't say anything at this stage. I just hope we get the clearance soon."