Many in Chennai heaved a sigh of reduction when a hearth within the Life Insurance Corporation of India’s iconic constructing on Anna Salai on April 2 proved to be a minor incident on the terrace.
To those that are older or across the age of the 64-year-old constructing, the incident inevitably introduced again the recollections of the disastrous hearth in 1975 that engulfed the constructing, the tallest multi-storey construction in Tamil Nadu then and regarded the “Pride of Chennai”.
Apart from damaging the constructing, destroying the majority of paperwork and rendering the constructing unusable for almost three years, the fireplace uncovered the necessity for higher hearth security rules for multi-storey buildings, which had been then starting to sprout, and for equipping the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services to deal with hearth in such high-rises.
Conceived in 1952
The constructing was conceived in 1952 by M.Ct.M. Chidambaram Chettyar because the headquarters of the United India Life Assurance Company. He needed it to be a skyscraper, modelled on the brand new headquarters of the United Nations. For the design, he roped in H.J. Brown and L.C. Moulin, architects from London.
The work commenced in 1953, however Chettyar, sadly, died a yr later in a aircraft crash when he was solely 45. In 1956, the Government of India nationalised the life insurance coverage enterprise. The constructing below development, consequently, grew to become the zonal workplace of LIC. Architects L.M. Chitale and Sons took over the work, when Brown and Moulin left the venture in 1957, and accomplished it with Coromandel Engineering.
The constructing, constructed at a value of ₹87 lakh and inaugurated by Union Finance Minister Morarji Desai on August 23, 1959, immediately grew to become one of probably the most recognisable landmarks and was usually used as a shorthand for establishing Chennai in a number of motion pictures.
The 14-storey, 177-foot-tall constructing, with a ground space of 1,26,000 sq. toes, used 1,000 tonnes of metal, 3,000 tonnes of cement and 26,000 sq. toes of glass. The air-conditioned constructing had lifts, then thought-about to be of “extra high speed category”, travelling 500 toes per minute.
The inaugural perform, attended by Desai, was interspersed with sharp showers. Desai remarked that the rain was an auspicious signal of nice prosperity for the LIC and different issues that had been to occupy the constructing.
However, the very existence of the constructing was threatened 16 years later, on July 11, 1975, a Friday. Around 8 p.m., employees at an adjoining petrol station seen a hearth on the second or third ground of the LIC constructing. The Fire Services responded quickly.
Many of the highest brass of the police had been on the close by Connemara Hotel, attending a farewell for Okay.R. Shenai, who had taken cost simply a day earlier than because the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, after being the Commissioner of Chennai City for a few years. He, Inspector-General of Police F.V. Arul, the brand new Commissioner, Okay. Radhakrishnan, and a few different senior officers, many of them in plainclothes, rushed to the spot to supervise the fire-fighting operations. Arul and Shenai remarked that this was the primary main hearth within the metropolis since an incident involving oil tankers at Royapuram in 1930.
With the fireplace quickly spreading to the upper flooring, flames and smoke emanating from the constructing may very well be noticed from so far as 10 kilometres. Despite valiant efforts by the firefighters, who later acquired extensive appreciation for his or her bravery, the fireplace didn’t subside.
All firefighting sources within the metropolis had been mobilised, together with the railways, the port belief and the airport. Water was taken from Kilpauk Water Works and all lorries supplying ingesting water had been diverted for this function. These sources, nonetheless, proved to be insufficient. The metropolis had only one turntable ladder, which may very well be operated solely as much as 40 toes, lower than one-fourth of the constructing’s peak. The water jet out there might attain solely as much as the fourth ground.
The hearth was doused solely the subsequent night, after a 22-hour battle, when most flooring had been razed by the fireplace. There had been no casualties for the reason that hearth broke out after workplace hours. Almost your complete stretch of Mount Road (Anna Salai) was cordoned off for a couple of days as folks began pouring in to observe.
The State authorities appointed Deputy Inspector-General of Police (CID) S. Sripal to analyze the case. The hearth was initially suspected to be a case of sabotage, a view echoed by the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, who, after inspecting the constructing and holding discussions with officers, mentioned it didn’t appear unintentional. Hundreds of LIC staff had been questioned by the police. However, the investigation subsequently appeared to rule out sabotage.
Sushila Rohatgi, the then Union Deputy Finance Minister, knowledgeable the Rajya Sabha a month later that the trigger of the fireplace couldn’t be clearly established. The loss was put at ₹75 lakh and the fee to renovate and restore was estimated to be ₹91 lakh. An skilled crew was fashioned to certify that the constructing was structurally steady. Alternative workplace areas had been organized at a number of places within the metropolis till the constructing grew to become absolutely useful once more in 1978.
The incident led to an elevated deal with the fireplace security rules for multi-storey buildings and equipping the fireplace and rescue companies higher. The constructing, which survived the fireplace, continues to evoke nostalgia as the primary skyscraper of the town, which is changing into crowded with high-rises.
(Note: The article relied primarily on the information reviews that appeared in The Hindu.)
