Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Over the past couple of days, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the district administration teams are busy sealing coaching institutions holding classes in basements. This comes against the backdrop of three civil services aspirants drowning in the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi.
However, hundreds of shops in commercial complexes in almost every part of the city are running from basements, and that too for decades.
They include Jyoti Complex, Thaddaram Complex, and Mahananda Complex in MP Nagar, Chaitanya Complex near Nadra Bus Stand, Rama Arcade in Gulmohar Colony, Shahpura and Mansarovar Complex near 7 No.Bus stop. The basement shops sell everything from mobiles to automobile spares to computer peripherals and consumables to eatables.
At 7 Number Bus Stop, a restaurant is running in a complex built by the BDA. The Thaddaram Complex has two levels of basement and the floor of the lower basement is covered with water year round.
Besides, many hotels have banquet halls in basements which are rented out for wedding receptions, birthday parties and other such functions.
Town planner and structural engineer, Suyash Kulshrestha said that every single shop in a basement is illegal. According to him, barring some very old complexes (such as the Jyoti Complex built in the 1980s), shops in basements are being run in violation of the building permission rules. 'Earlier, the rules did not prohibit the use of basements for commercial activities,' he said.
Architect Meera Das said that it is the responsibility of the municipal corporation to ensure that basements are not flooded. 'There should be a proper rainwater drainage plan and like a fire evacuation plan, a water evacuation plan should be put in place to ensure that in case a basement gets flooded, there is no casualty,' she said.
What norms say
The Madhya Pradesh Bhumi Vikas Niyam (BVN) 2012 disallows commercial activities in basements. The rules say that basements can be used only for ìstorage of house-hold or other goods, as strong rooms and bank cellars, for housing air-conditioning equipment and other machines used for services and utilities of the building and as parking spaces.î The rules also say that the basements should have adequate ventilation and the ceilings of the basement must be at least 0.9 metre above the level of the surrounding land.
