Goa buildings cleared by tainted engineers to be re-examined

All buildings and constructions certified by engineers and technicians who endorsed the ill-fated five-storey building in Goa's Canacona sub-district will be re-examined, an official said Friday.

The decision was taken by Chief Town Planner Puttu Raju Friday, nearly a week after Ruby Residency, a five-storeyed building under construction collapsed.

Twenty-five labourers who were working at the site were killed and rescue workers are still digging out bodies from the debris.

"All buildings passed by the engineers, which are in the construction stage or even already developed, will be checked," Puttu Raju told reporters in Panaji.

Puttu Raju also said that the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department has formed a special committee to probe how they granted permission to Ruby Residency, despite a range of irregularities which have come to the fore now.

Both TCP officials and municipal engineers had confirmed the fitness of the construction before the accident occurred.

According to the chief minister, who has "ruled out political corruption" as the cause of the accident, prima facie bad construction material and planning led to the accident.

While one deputy town planner has been arrested, police have been unable to nab the builder or the promoters of the real estate firm that undertook the building construction.