Soil testing not done before construction, feel experts

Satinder Pal Singh

Zirakpur, April 15

The collapse of the under-construction four-storeyed building at Imperial Garden in Peer Muchalla near here has fuelled debate across professionals in the real estate industry.

Other developers and builders in Zirakpur pointed out at least three factors - flawed building design, use of inferior quality construction material and load-bearing capacity of soil might have not been carried out - led to the collapse of the building.

While investigations are still underway and the exact cause of the collapse has not been determined yet, experts have prima facie said soil testing was not done before beginning the construction of the four-storeyed building, as mandated. As a result, safety and credibility of properties in Zirakpur town are being questioned and buyers are doubtful of whether or not to buy property in such areas.

Besides, as it has been said the building seems to have come up on a riverbed, which might have undergone a landfill, extra caution should have been exercised in determining the load-bearing capacity of the soil. It has been learnt that all cautions were thrown to the winds by the contractor who was entrusted with the task of constructing the four-storeyed building.

Harish Gupta, President, Builders Association, Zirakpur, said: “Every building needs to be checked for soil stability, which plays a vital role in building construction”.

He said as per norms, it is mandatory for the builder to enclose a soil test report from a reputed firm at the time of submitting an application even for a single-storeyed building whereas it was not yet clear whether these were done on the building that collapsed.

“Though, usually, the quality of construction material is blamed for a building collapse, in this case it seems more of a structural engineering problem owing to improper soil analysis leading to faulty design,” said a builder, preferring anonymity.

Flouting of construction norms by unscrupulous builders coupled with official apathy towards these transgressions, perhaps, led to the collapse of the four-storeyed building under construction in Peer Muchalla.

An overhaul of the existing rules and regulations governing the construction industry as well as putting stronger enforcement mechanisms in place could prevent such tragedies from recurring in future, said experts.

Buildings to have safety audit

In order to minimise the risk of damage to life and property due to building collapse, the administration is planning to rope in a team of engineers to carry out a structural audit of buildings in and around the collapse site. Mohali Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Kaur Sapra said: “It is the need of the hour”. The DC said she would send a communique to the Additional Chief Secretary, Local Government, to constitute a committee comprising engineers from the IIT (Roorkee) or any other place so that they could carry out a comprehensive survey of the area to access the structural stability and quality of all buildings around the collapse site.