Gurgaon collapse: ‘I cannot stay here anymore’

Bhupender Bhardwaj, who lives on the 17th floor of tower D, said he paid Rs 1.75 crore for the flat and took possession in 2018. “I will not stay here anymore. Either the builder should compensate me or provide a flat in another society,” he said.

He added that his son and wife, who were in the house when the portion of their tower collapsed, were traumatised. “My son was in the lift when he heard a loud explosion. As he exited, his face was covered in dust… he immediately ran to tower C and called my wife on the phone. She climbed down the stairs from the 17th floor,” said Bhardwaj.

He said his family has moved to their ancestral home in Mitraon, Delhi, while he is staying at a flat in tower C provided by the society authorities.

Devender, a resident of the 7th floor in the same tower, said repair work had been going on for some time. Recounting the day of the incident, he said: “At 6.30 pm, I felt there was an earthquake and quickly rushed downstairs. My wife, son and I didn’t grab anything. The next day, we were able to go to our house since my wife, who is a cancer patient, had forgotten to take her medicine.” He said they were making arrangements to stay with neighbours for the time being.

In an official statement, Chintels, whose chairman Ashok Solomon was booked on Friday, said, “The Paradiso group housing project was contracted to the reputed Bhayana Builders after a stringent due diligence process for construction. We have submitted the contract copy to the DTP, Gurugram. It clearly specifies the highest quality of material and workmanship to be used for the project. As per our records submitted by the contractor, the best of materials from well-known players have been used for the project, details of which have also been shared with the investigating authorities. We ourselves will take up the matter very seriously so that not just us but other developers and buyers do not face a similar situation in future. Even after initiating the handover of the project from 2017, we have been available for any resident complaints and many residents have been appreciative of the same. Affected residents are currently being accommodated in our sister projects with our staff monitoring the situation. We will duly compensate affected residents or accommodate them in alternate arrangements till necessary repair work is completed.”

Nishant Kumar Yadav, the Gurgaon DC, said: “The department of town and country planning has been directed to file a separate FIR against the builder, which is likely to be registered tonight or tomorrow.”

On Saturday morning, panic gripped residents again as some debris from tower D, where rescue operations were on to recover the body of a woman from the first floor, began to fall.

Ritu Kapur, a resident of tower D, said, “The houses are not safe anymore. These should be demolished and we should be compensated for our loss. Why did the authorities not take any action after residents had said they were not satisfied with the structural audit’s conclusions last year? Were they waiting for a tragedy to occur?… We are afraid the roof will collapse.”

Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, in a statement, said he had reached Gurgaon from Delhi to meet the residents, but received information from administration officials that some people with a “political agenda” had gathered at the society’s gate. “I returned after a request from the administration officials,” he said.

Former Finance Minister Haryana and Congress’s Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who had contested the 2019 Assembly polls from Gurgaon, met the residents and called for a thorough probe into the incident.
Residents also listed their complaints with district town planner (DTP, enforcement) R S Bhath, who visited the society on Saturday. “In a week, a report would be submitted to higher authorities and action would be taken against erring officials,” he said.

The incident also prompted residents of nearby societies in Sector 109 to stage a protest, demanding independent structural audits of their societies. Residents claimed the flats were not safe and multiple complaints to their developers, the department of town and country planning and police, went unheard.