Greater Noida: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has decided to adopt a three-pronged approach to ensure the quality of construction of its projects. The move comes in the wake of the shelter collapse at a Ghaziabad crematorium, which killed 24 people on Sunday morning.
There have been allegations that materials used to build the shelter that collapsed were of inferior quality. Officials in the Muradnagar municipality, which had issued the work tender, had also admitted that it had failed to carry out an inspection of the project in the absence of a junior engineer. The contactor who built the shelter and three officials of the civic body, including a senior executive officer, have been arrested.
YEIDA officials said the development authority would soon hire an external agency of technical experts to not only check the progress of its projects but to also ensure the quality of materials used to construct them. The authority is currently conducting an audit of its projects.
“We will take special care and adequate precautions while executing the projects meant for public use. Payments will be released only after the experts give a go ahead to the projects,” said Arun Vir Singh, the chief executive officer of YEIDA.
Secondly, YEIDA will also set multiple deadlines for contractors to construct the projects in phases. The payments would depend on whether the agencies meet the milestones or not.
After a contractor starts work on a particular project, YEIDA will conduct a preliminary audit within 14 days. The second one will be conducted when almost half of the project has been constructed and third when it has achieved 90% completion rate. The clearing of bills will depend on how much progress the contractor has made.
Officials will also clarify the legal bindings and the responsibilities of the agency concerned while entering into an agreement with it. On Friday, YEIDA officials will hold another meeting to decide the scale of the projects that will be monitored.