Heritage building caves in, 4 die

Four persons were killed when the roof of a shop in the 120-year-old Lansdowne Building, a heritage structure, collapsed on Saturday evening.

The deceased are Gnana Prakash (33), a resident of Alanahalli and owner of a photocopy centre. His brother Anand (38), Annapoorna (23), an MA gold medalist from Kesare and Lokesh (30), a customer.

The roof of the shop in the dilapidated heritage building collapsed following heavy downpour in the last two days. The heavy rains had also inundated shop number 17 of the building in which the four persons died.

Many of the other tenants were gripped with fear that their shops may collapse if rains continue to lash the city. The tenants also said despite several requests made to authorities to repair the building, their appeals had fallen on deaf ears.

They said the Corporation’s Finance Committee members had visited Lansdowne Building on Wednesday to collect rent from tenants and assured them that the Corporation was keen on getting the building repaired.

The tenants had opposed eviction by the Corporation and approached the court against any move of the Corporation to vacate them as the previous Deputy Commissioner had earlier marked it for demolition.

The Corporation had included Lansdowne Building in the list of heritage buildings and were hoping to get funds under the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to restore heritage buildings.