Gurugram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nishant Kumar Yadav on Friday said that as demanded by the residents of Chintel Paradiso society, the evaluation report will be reviewed and safety audit of all nine towers of the society conducted.
The directions came after the DC held a meeting with the residents of Chintels Paradiso society and the developer of the housing complex on Friday. In the meeting, Yadav also directed the builder to settle the claims of the residents of Chintels Paradiso society in a time-bound manner or face action.
In February, a portion of a sixth-floor apartment in Tower D had collapsed, killing two women and injuring many others. Following the incident, a probe was ordered and a team of experts from IIT-Delhi was asked to conduct a structural audit, a draft report of which was submitted to the deputy commissioner in early November, and the final report on Tuesday.
Following the recommendations of the report, Yadav had on Wednesday issued a demolition order for Tower D of Chintels Paradiso society and had also directed the developer to settle the dues or liabilities of allottees or flat owners of Tower D of the housing complex within 60 days.
In the meeting, residents of the housing complex demanded that the evaluation report, which was prepared to ascertain the market value of flats, be reviewed as the evaluators have only made the registry cost as the base for valuation of the flat cost.
Residents demanded that Rs 5 lakh per flat be also included in the process of evaluation as additional expenditure in the form of stamp duty, charge for electricity supply, IDC and EDC.
“The DC assured residents of considering the matter and issued directions to review the evaluation report. The DC also agreed to their demand of conducting a safety audit of all the nine towers of the society,” an official statement from the DC office stated.
Yadav also said that taking a cue from the unfortunate incident in Chintels Paradiso, the Town and Village Planning Department of the state has formulated draft guidelines wherein structural safety audit has been made part of the process for giving occupation certificate (OC).
The demolition order on Wednesday had noted that there was sagging in one of the balconies in Tower F and other signs of distress in the floors of various other flats in Tower E and F. It had recommended that Towers E and F also be vacated immediately for the safety of the residents.
Yadav, on Friday, also directed the builder to make necessary arrangements to vacate E and F towers and provide the occupants of these buildings alternate temporary accommodations.
Currently, 28 families from Tower D are living on rent in the same complex. The developer is paying these owners Rs 25,000 a month towards rental expenses for a 3 BHK flat, and Rs 37,000 for a 4 BHK unit.
The final report, released along with the demolition order by the administration on Wednesday, has said that wrong methodology was adopted for repair work which was the immediate cause of the collapse.
The report said that corroded steel used as reinforcement had been painted from the top to hide the corrosion. The methodology of repair was also not as per the requisite standard, it had said.