Kerala CM orders public building safety audit after Med college building collapse, electrocution in Kollam school

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday directed the Disaster Management Department to submit details on structurally weak buildings in government hospitals and schools in the state within two weeks. The Chief Minister issued the directions in a high-level meeting held here on Tuesday. 

The list shall include details on buildings that need to be demolished and those that require maintenance. The school buildings shall be demolished on holidays. Until the new buildings are constructed, the local self-government institutions and the Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) shall identify alternative arrangements. The Chief Minister also directed that a safety audit be conducted of unaided school buildings in the state.

A software shall be prepared to record public buildings in a dilapidated state. A committee comprising officials of the Electrical inspectorate, the local self-government department, and the public works department (electrical wing) shall assess such buildings. Ministers K Rajan, K N Balagopal, P A Mohammad Riyas, V Sivankutty, and Veena George attended the meeting. 

The state government has faced a lot of flak following the collapse of a portion of the building in Kottayam Medical College and the electrocution of a student at a school in Kollam. A woman died in the Kottayam Medical college building collapse in July, and questions arose as to why patients and bystanders were allowed access to a building earmarked as structurally unstable. 

Minister for General Education V Sivankutty has said that guidelines on student safety were violated in Thevalakkara school, where a class 8 student was electrocuted. In a circular issued on May 13, the General Education Department had laid down detailed safety instructions for the 2025–26 academic year. Among them was a directive to prioritise the safety of students and eliminate any hazardous conditions before schools reopened.