DGP Jacob Thomas stalls police headquarters work
The KPHCC would seek experts’ opinions on strengthening the building
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior IPS officer Jacob Thomas, who recently invited the wrath of the government for insisting on the safety of high-rise buildings, has stalled the ongoing vertical expansion work at the police headquarters building in the state capital citing that the building was unfit for further construction.
Mr. Thomas, who is now serving as chairman and managing director of Kerala Police Housing Construction Corporation, has informed the state police chief as well as the home department that the ongoing work by the corporation on adding more floors to the police headquarters building could not be carried out. The KPHCC would seek experts’ opinions on strengthening the building.
“We have arrived at this opinion after seeking the opinion of experts from institutions like the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram,” Mr. Thomas said.
The police headquarters building now has six floors and the work of adding about five more floors has been progressing. But a technical evaluation by experts found that though the foundation of the building was strong enough for up to 20 floors, the floors already constructed did not have sufficient strength to bear further vertical constructions.“Experts suggested not to construct more floors above the existing structure. Hence we decided to stall the work and seek further opinions from experts on how to strengthen the building,” he said.
The existing building was constructed some ten years back and hence the chances of any malpractices in the construction could not be ruled out, KPHCC sources said.
It may be recalled that Mr. Thomas, who was earlier serving as Fire and Rescue Services commandant-general, was shunted out of the post after he insisted on fire-safety norms of high-rise buildings, mainly residential apartments.
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