SDM’s probe indicts builder, contractor : The Tribune India

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Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 14

The builder and the contractor have been indicted in the inquiry conducted into the collapse of a three-storey building in Sector 115 near here last week.

Report findings

Basement was dug up beyond permissible limit
Kharar MC not informed before starting digging work
Builder installed one of the two mobile towers illegally

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Himanshu Jain submitted his seven-page inquiry report to Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan today. He held the builder, Parveen Kumar, the owner of Ambika Group, and the contractor, Pankaj Kumar, equally responsible for the incident which claimed a life and rendered two other injured. The incident took place on February 8. On the same day, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had ordered a probe into the incident. A day later, the Kharar police had registered separate cases against the builder and the contractor under Sections 304, 337, 287, 288, 120-B and 420 of the IPC.

During the inquiry, it came to light that the basement had been dug up beyond the permissible limit and sanctioned depth, which exposed the foundation of the adjacent three-storey building leading to its collapse. The builder had not informed the Municipal Council, Kharar, before initiating the digging work, the report stated.

The SDM, in his inquiry report, stated that the builder and the contractor had, in statements submitted through their legal counsels, levelled allegations against each other for not taking the responsibility of digging the basement beyond the permissible limit.

However, the SDM, in the inquiry report, stated that both the builder and the contractor were equally at fault.

The report also pointed out that the builder had installed two mobile towers atop the three-storey building and one of these was set up without permission.

The building owner had permission to erect only one tower. In the garb of the permission, he got the second mobile tower installed too.

The report recommended that legal action must be taken against the builder and the contractor for putting other persons’ lives at risk by digging basement beyond the permissible limit for personal gains.

The SDM, in his report, mentioned that the Municipal Council, Kharar, had issued notice to the owner for illegally erecting the second mobile tower, but the owner neither replied to the notice nor he removed the tower.

Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said the report would be forwarded to the office of the Chief Minister for further action.

The Municipal Council has cancelled the building plan permission given for the hotel site where the basement was being dug up. The permission has been cancelled in the wake of violations of the norms by digging the basement beyond the permissible limit and also erecting second mobile tower atop the three-storey building. Both the sites were owned by the same builder.

The SDM said till the final decision was taken by the state government, all types of construction activity at the site had been banned.