Gurugram: Amrapali homebuyers feel NBCC Green View tremors

NEW DELHI: With the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) itself in the dock for poor quality construction in housing project Green View in Sector-37D, Gurugram where residents were asked to vacate the buildings, apprehensive Amrapali homebuyers on Monday pleaded the Supreme Court to intervene to ensure quality control of ongoing constructions of various Amrapali projects which is being built by the PSU under the supervision of the court.

The company, however, assured a bench of Justices U U Lalit and Bela M Trivedi that the PSU was committed to maintaining quality of construction and the controversy surrounding the Gurugram project should not be linked with Amrapali projects.

At the outset, court-appointed receiver and senior advocate R Venkataramani told the bench that many homebuyers were sending him messages regarding the quality of construction of Amrapali projects after the Gurugram incidents and pleaded the court to clarify it was for NBCC to respond on the issue, and not him.

Advocate M L Lahoty, appearing for homebuyers, contended that NBCC was itself in the dock for the unsafe construction of the Gurugram project where around 650 buyers have been asked to vacate the premises. He said a report by IIT Delhi had blamed the PSU for structural defects and the apprehension of Amrapali homebuyers was genuine and should be addressed as soon as possible.

Countering the contentions of homebuyers, senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for NBCC, told the bench that the company would not compromise on quality and said that the apprehension of homebuyers was misplaced. He said that the PSU has already hired two agencies–NIT Nagpur and IIMT Jalandhar–to examine the structural strength of the buildings.

“We are waiting for the report which would be submitted by them on the structural stability and strength. We ourselves took note of it and took the services of two agencies. The Amrapali projects should not be linked with the Gurugram project. The construction work undertaken by NBCC would be of good quality and there will be no compromise on quality,” Dave told the bench.

The homebuyers also said that NBCC is also involved in another project Chintels Paradiso in Sector 109 of Gurugram in which multiple ceilings collapsed. But Dave clarified that it was not an NBCC project.

The Supreme Court also recorded the submission of Dave in its order and said that the concern of the homebuyers would be looked into by the NBCC. “Once we have reposed faith in it, then let the agency complete the project,” the bench said.