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CHANDIGARH: Around 65 high-rise buildings in Gurugram have structural irregularities and are awaiting inspection by the competent authorities, according to Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).
In a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, the RWAs have demanded that builders be made responsible for the safety of buildings, adding that authorities should issue occupancy permits (OCs) only if safety of the buildings is assured.
Gurugram is located in seismic zone 4 and the buildings are not earthquake-proof, making the residents terrified when they face an earthquake.
Compounding the problem are exposed iron bars, sagging balconies, cracks, damp basements, etc. The administration has launched structural audits of 37 units, most of which have been visual inspections.
Speaking to reporters over phone, New Gurugram Union Society president Pravin Malik said, “Several letters have been sent to the authorities in this regard. As there are around 67 societies in the satellite city with high-rise buildings which have reported structural defects, four agencies hired by the district administration conducted a structural audit of 32 societies. But the audit was only a visual inspection and nothing else. How can you find out structural defects without destructive and non-destructive testing, which are the only two ways to ascertain the strength and defects of a structure? These tests are not being done.”
“No standards have been laid down for structural audit and the reports of these agencies who have conducted structural audit should be made public. We demand that competitive certificate be made mandatory for societies and a provision for structural audit be incorporated in it. Only a few societies in Gurugram have competitive certificate. There is no accountability for the safety of residents as builders can get occupancy certificate (OC) even with minimum quality work,” he said.
Otherwise, he added, accidents like the one at Chintel's Paradiso in Sector 109, where the building partially collapsed and six of its nine buildings were declared “unsafe”, would continue to happen.
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