Delhi civic bodies issues final warning to high-rises to do safety check

NEW DELHI: Receiving a tepid response from highrise buildings that were served notices nine months ago for submitting structural audit reports, Delhi’s civic bodies have now resorted to issuing final warning for disconnecting water and electricity supply if no response is received within a month.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation has dispatched over 30 such warnings, while North Delhi Municipal Corporation has issued five notices so far. East Delhi Municipal Corporation is planning to initiate similar action in the future.

To ensure seismic stability of buildings in Delhi, the three civic bodies had earlier issued around 1,350 notices to buildings identified as high-risk structures. These included 709 buildings in EDMC’s jurisdiction, and around 300 each in north and south corporation areas.

“People need to understand that the survey is for their safety and there is no need for retrofitting in all cases. There have been instances where buildings constructed prior to 2000 were declared fit, except for minor repair work. In a city like Delhi, which falls in Seismic Zone-IV, such surveys are needed for the safety of all. In SDMC areas, 45 structural audits have been done so far,” said a civic official from the building department.

In east Delhi, of 709 identified buildings, structural audits of only 47 have been completed so far. “Of these, 12 were found seismic complaint, while retrofitting will be done in the remaining 35 buildings by March 31. The structural audit has also been carried out for 70 municipal buildings, of which 68 were found to have seismic compliance,” an EDMC report mentioned.

North DMC, meanwhile, hs issued over 300 notices, including 93 in the Keshavpuram zone. “We are giving opportunity to people to come forward and avail the facility for their own good. To make the task easier, the corporations have made a list of empaneled engineers, which includes faculty at government institutes such as IITs,” said a civic official.

Aditya Sharma, a structural engineer, who is part of the empaneled group, said things are manageable at colonies where the RWA is strong. “The problem arises in societies constructed under self-finance schemes or old DDA flats, where there is no proper RWA. It becomes difficult to convince residents there,” added Sharma.