Despite demand, Faridabad admn yet to conduct audit of high-rises
Bijendra Ahlawat
Faridabad, January 10
The district authorities are yet to take up the structural audit of the high-rise residential buildings in the city despite a demand being raised in this regard last year. The city has around 57 registered and licensed high-rise societies at present.
Though inspection had been carried by a team of the District Town Planning Department soon after complaints regarding the alleged poor condition of the towers in some of the societies were raised, no concrete steps have come up to ensure structural audit so far, claim sources in the district administration and the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) of the societies. Daya Shankar Chaubey, a resident of the SRS Royals Hills Society in Sector 87, who had raised the demand of the structural audit of his society in May 2022 claimed that he had been told that there was no official policy or norm for a quality check or audit. He had raised the matter of deficient infrastructure, saying the structure of the building with 12 towers is unsafe in view of peeling plaster and cracks in the basement pillars and walls, posing a risk to the lives of over 5,000 residents. Requesting structural stability audit, he had sought a status report of quality of the material used in the construction. Claiming that seepage had weakened the basement structure, he said the authorities need to take remedial measures.
In a similar complaint, the RWA of RPS Savana Society in Sector 88, had also raised the issue last year regarding the alleged weakened structure of the building due to leakage in the basement. According to Jeetendra Bhalla, president of the RWA, the authorities concerned have failed to provide drawings of the buildings, even after 11 months of the complaint being lodged in February 2022. With as many as 2,344 flats and 27 towers, the faulty design of drainage system, under-capacity STP and poor maintenance had exposed slabs and joints in the basement area, which remain waterlogged almost throughout the year, he alleged.
Claiming that 70 per cent of the societies had been occupied, Pramod Manocha, president, Greater Faridabad Residents’ Association, said incidents of wall plaster coming off had become a common problem, posing a threat to property and human lives. Due to this, recently a woman guard got injured during an incident that took place in a society in Sector 76, he added. Renuka Singh, District Town Planner, said a couple of requests for the audit were received, and they were mainly related to bilateral issues of maintenance between residents and builder.
