Builders go underground as posh apartments crumble

Builders go underground as posh apartments crumble
JANYALA SREENIVAS

AHMEDABAD, FEB 1: When one tower of Mansi Complex in Vastrapur collapsed in Friday's earthquake killing at least 50 people, hundreds of neighbours, relatives and friends gathered at the apartment. One man remained conspicuous by his absence -- Manubhai Vyas, the builder-financer of Mansi Complex, was not to be seen anywhere. Flat owners in the complex are searching for him, and so is the police.

As buildings with fancy names built by top construction firms crumbled like cookies, thick-skinned builders of Ahmedabad were the first to go underground. With irate residents baying for their blood, they have started maintaining an extremely low profile. Shutters of luxurious offices are downed. Builders have stopped using their cars and are travelling incognito. Cellphones have been switched off and land lines don't stop ringing -- there's nobody to answer them. If at all office boys answer, they don't know where their seths are. Fearing attacks, the builders have stopped going to their plush homes -- many of them have either fled the city or shifted their families to relatives' places.

As many as 50 high-rise buildings collapsed in the city, but except for one builder, no one visited the sites where hundreds were crushed to death. And although most builders have shifted their families to safer places, they have left survivors out in the cold. A couple of builders even threatened residents, asking them not to file police complaints.

At Mansi, more than 200 residents huddle together in the cold, too scared to go into their flats, which have developed cracks. Vyas, however, did not visit the collapsed apartments or arrange for any relief. The shutter of his plush office on Ashram Road is only half open. A lone office boy hides behind a newspaper. Where is Manubhai, a harried resident asks him after attending the `besna' or mourning meeting held at the apartment. ``I don't know. He has not come to office since four days.'' Where does he live? Is he in town? There is just one answer. ``I don't know.''

Rakesh Shah and Nirav Shah of Jai Estate Developers Private Ltd have reason to be absconding from the city. Three five-storey apartments built by them recently collapsed in the quake, killing at least 70 people. Those who were lucky to survive are out to get him. ``We will lynch him if we find him,'' says resident Shaktisinh Jhala. The police are also searching for builders, who have disappeared. ``Nirav's office and residence in Maningar are locked. He packed off his family to Surat on the day of the quake. Since then neither they nor Rakeshbhai have come back,'' a neighbour said.

Amrish Gandhi, builder of the four-storey Srinath Flats in Ishanpur, has been sending his clerk to pacify residents of the apartment but has not visited them. ``He has threatened us with dire consequences if we complained against him,'' said resident Kiran Vyas. The builder has been playing hide and seek with residents, who are spending their nights on the road after their apartment developed wide cracks and was certified unsafe. He has also stopped going to his Maninagar office.

It is difficult to trace Satish Shah, builder of the 10-storey Shikar apartment where 145 people died when `D' tower came down. He has opened a cell to help bereaved families but he refuses to answer the phone and screens all visitors before meeting them. While the survivors and flat owners of the remaining three towers camp out in the open, Shah and his family are cosied up in their Satellite Road bungalow. ``He was untraceable the first day. Then perhaps he realised the enormity and sent a crane and labourers. But he was careful not to come here,'' said a resident.

However, people at his upmarket C G Road office are tight-lipped about the cell he has opened at Shivalik Bungalows. Shah himself is cagey about revealing where the cell is located, adding,``I am arranging for all that the residents are asking for.'' Residents of Shikhar have another story to tell. One of them, Kalubhai, complained that except for the crane and labourers, Shah has not bothered to send anything. ``We do not know where this so-called relief cell he opened is.''

The edgy builder continues to stay away. A security guard keeping watch on his employer's Honda City car said he has not seen his seth since Friday, the day of the quake. ``I don't know where he is and there's nobody in office,'' he said, blocking the way.