4 agencies to check structural flaws in 76 societies in preliminary audit

GURGAON: The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has assigned 76 highrise residential societies to four structural audit agencies for preliminary audits, which will be completed within seven days. Four junior engineers — two each from DTCP and the public works department (PWD) — will assist the firms in the audit.
While Bureau Veritas and NNC design International will audit 19 societies each, TPC Technical Projects will audit 20 of them. The fourth agency, Vintech Consultants, will inspect 18 societies.
Around 15-20 societies with serious defects will be shortlisted on the basis of visual inspection and assessments of the situation of residential buildings, after which detailed structural audits of these societies will be conducted on a priority basis.
District town planner (enforcement) Manish Yadav said, “Based on complaints received regarding structural audits, a list of societies has been prepared and teams of agencies and DTCP and PWD officials have been formed and entrusted with the responsibility of visual inspection. All teams have been instructed to inspect and report within seven days. The cost of visual inspection will be borne equally by the RWA and the developer. If any deficiencies are found in the inspection, the entire cost of the structural audit will be recovered from the developer”.
DTCP junior engineer Akash Rao will assist Bureau Veritas in the audit process, while junior engineer Sachin will assist NNC Design International. PWD junior engineers Sandeep and Manoj will assist the two other agencies.
The four agencies have already completed structural audits of 15 societies in the first phase of audits, and the final report has been submitted to the district administration. The report revealed that the basements of most of the projects have seepage and flooding, apart from other issues like falling of concrete and corrosion of steel. Basements of all the projects are a major cause of concern and need further testing, the report stated. The audit agencies had, however, said the defects are repairable in nature. The district administration decided to carry out audits to identify buildings that are unsafe for habitation after the cave-in at Chintels Paradiso in February last year, in which two residents lost their lives.
Based on complaints received from the homebuyers and residents during the past two years, the district administration had prepared a list of over 60 residential projects with poor construction quality and structural defects.
If needed, repair work can be carried out in such buildings and in case they are found inhabitable, they can be vacated, officials said.