Probe use of substandard material in construction of college building: NC

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 21

The National Conference today expressed serious concern over the structural cracks developed in the under-construction building of Government Degree College (GDC) at Jindrah and urged the administration to institute an inquiry into poor and substandard quality of work, fix responsibility and punish those responsible for the gross negligence.

“It is intriguing how a building has developed structural cracks during the process of construction and speaks volumes about the expertise and material being used,” Devender Singh Rana, provincial president of the NC and former MLA from Nagrota said in a statement issued from Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here this afternoon.

Rana observed that the quality of building has shattered the confidence of people who were waiting for the shifting of the college to the new complex.

“This is disgusting, more so because the building was to be used by young students, whose safety would have been in jeopardy had such cracks developed after the functioning of the college, he said and pleaded for stopping the work forthwith till safety audit was carried out by the experts in the field.

Rana sought quality-cum-safety audit of the building in the larger interest of people and expressed anguish over the substandard quality of work, hoping that the administration will take cognisance of the matter, fix responsibility and ensure safety norms and quality control, even if it entails dismantling of the structure.

“There can’t be any compromise with regard to safety of precious human lives,” Rana added.