Paradiso towers E, F unfit for living, says Gurugram administration

GURUGRAM: The district administration has declared towers E and F of Chintels Paradiso unfit for living, citing a structural audit report by IIT-Delhi that made similar observations.
"We have already asked the residents to vacate towers E and F. The process will be monitored by the district town planner (enforcement), Manish Yadav," said additional deputy commissioner Vishram Kumar Meena, who is also heading the SIT formed to probe the collapse of living rooms that killed two residents of Tower D on February 10 last year.
In its report, IIT-Delhi had mentioned that the two 18-storey towers - E and F - had seen "rapid corrosion" because of high chloride content in the concrete and it was not "technically and economically' feasible to carry out repairs of these buildings.
"There is rapid and widespread corrosion of reinforcement almost throughout the structure... A poor quality of concrete has also played a role in the rapid deterioration. Given the high chloride content in the concrete, repair of these structures for safe usage is not technically and economically feasible. In the current condition due to the rapid creation of the reinforcement due to the presence of chlorides, the structure is not safe for habitation," the report, submitted a couple of weeks ago, said.
The report had, however, clarified it was difficult to ascertain the source of these chlorides. "...It may have been present in any of the components of the concrete, including water and sand, which are the most common source of chlorides in concrete."
Meena said the IIT report had been shared with the developer and the residents to initiate the process of settlement. The sampling of towers A and G, he added, was over while that of Tower H was underway.
Told about the administration's decision, a spokesperson for Chintels India said, "We are yet to receive the audit report. Once we do, we will study that. We have already engaged a reputable central agency, CBRI, to carry out a second structural audit of towers D, E, F G and H. The report is awaited."
The administration has already ordered the demolition of Tower D, where the five floors collapsed. It was after the February 10 collapse that residents of towers E and F had raised concerns about sagging balconies and cracks on the walls, prompting the district administration to order the structural audit of the two buildings. The administration had also ordered that the families living in these two towers be shifted to other flats and asked the developer to bear the rent. But only a few families have accepted the proposal. The CBI, which was handed the collapse case officially last month, has initiated a probe.