Quake-ready? Government to audit high-rise buildings, Delhi HC told

NEW DELHI: The AAP government has informed the Delhi high court it will conduct structural audits of high-rise buildings and those over two decades old.
The audit will be conducted on top priority in a time-bound manner by a reputed agency to check preparedness for the earthquake, the state government submitted.
It said that quality and calculation test checks may be carried out on a sample basis in respect of high-rise private and government buildings having high footfall or occupancy by the local bodies concerned.
“It was also decided that the high court may be apprised of the necessary actions initiated by the ULBs (urban local bodies) to complete the entire exercise since the process is a gigantic one, as there are approximately more than 30 lakh buildings in Delhi and, of which, a large number has come up in an unplanned/unregulated manner (sic),” the government informed HC in a status report.
The government’s report was filed in respect of a pending PIL by advocate Arpit Bhargava, claiming that the seismic stability of buildings in Delhi was poor and, in case of a major earthquake, there could be a large number of casualties.
The government said that keeping in view the enormous number of buildings in Delhi, with many constructed in an unorganised/unplanned manner, top priority will be accorded to the high-rise buildings and government and private buildings, which are over 20 years old and witness large footfall, multi-storey market complex/ malls, hospitals, nursing home, colleges, schools, government, and private offices and residential buildings having carpet area of more than 2 lakh square feet.
The government disclosed that of a total of 10,080 buildings identified for assessing structural safety, notices have been issued in respect of 5,233 such structures, asking the owners to furnish structural safety certificates or the details of remedial action taken in this regard.
“Further structural audit has been done in respect of 4,523 buildings so far. While retrofitting has been undertaken in respect of 82 buildings, 148 unsafe buildings have also been demolished till date. It has further been reported that there are a total of 4,941 high-risk buildings of the total of 10,080 structures surveyed so far,” it said.
In June 2020, after 11 minor tremors struck Delhi in a matter of days from April 12, 2020, onwards, HC issued several directions to the authorities to survey if buildings in Delhi were compliant with the norms of seismic stability and to identify non-compliant ones, take necessary action and also develop an action plan.