Gurugram: Portions of wall, ceiling collapse in another society in Sector 109

Portions of a wall and ceiling of two flats in a Sector 109 housing society collapsed on Friday and Saturday, just days after a collapse killed two people in Chintels Paradiso in the same sector on Thursday.

Residents of Raheja Atharva, a residential complex in Sector 109, alleged that the external unit of a split AC fell from a third floor apartment of Tower H to the ground due to a poorly constructed wall on Saturday. No one was injured, residents confirmed.

On Friday, a portion of a ceiling of a drawing room of a tenth floor flat in the same tower collapsed. There were no people in the room at the time of the incident, said neighbours.

A representative of Raheja Athava did not respond to messages seeking comment on the incidents of structural collapse.

Anjan Deveshwar, a resident of Raheja Atharva, alleged incidents of structural collapse have been reported from their society quite often, but authorities are yet to take action.

“We have been struggling since last September but in vain. We will protest against the district town and country planning (DTCP) department, which sanctions occupancy certificates,” he said.

The repeated incidents of structural collapse have sparked panic among the residents, who are planning to stage a protest at Brisk Lumbini condominium in Sector 109 on Sunday. Residents of over 80 residential societies are likely to participate in the protest against developers and authorities involved in giving completion certificates to the builders.

Residents alleged that there should be an FIR against directors, developers, architects, project engineers, contractors and inspectors from the town planning department, who issue certificates at different stages of completion of the housing societies.

Structural audit of beams and columns and all casting work should be done again, said residents.

Dharmveer Singh Lochab, president of resident welfare association of a condominium in Gurugram’s Sector 82, said they don’t know how long will it take to resolve the issues concerning their housing complex. “The RWA registered a complaint in June 2017 for the issues in our building. The district town and country planning team held many meetings, which yielded little results. Inspection was also carried in 2020 but no report was submitted for the same. We approached the high court, on whose directions inspection was carried out in September last year but the reports are still awaited,” he said.

Residents demand that every building having issues related to repair works should be inspected by teams involving officials, who issue occupation and completion certificates. If the issues are not resolved by the developer within six months, the developer should be held guilty and be made to pay for the repairs or refund the price of the flat, said residents.

Other residents demanded that Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar should institute a high-level probe committee for inspecting and conducting an audit of all such buildings suspected to have structural issues.

Ajay Sharma, resident of another condominium in Sector 70, said quality check of raw materials is essential in all under-construction housing societies. “Construction norms should be set and strictly followed. Stage inspections are essential right from excavation to all super-structure levels,” he said.

Sharma said what seems to be clearly missing is a technical body, which should come to check the construction at 30%, 60% and 90% completion stage and assess it from the point of compliance to set standards before an occupancy certificate is issued.

“The DTCP should have a portal, where all the realty consultants should enrol themselves and buyers can choose any expert of their choice. We need to form a group and rope in two officers from DTCP, with consent from the headquarters in Chandigarh, who will monitor the post-possession repair works so that such incidents can be avoided in the future. We need to have certain modalities in place to improve the system of granting occupation certificates,” said Sharma.

Yogesh Singh Chauhan, a resident of a condominium in Sector 84, said the flat buyers association complained several times to the builder, the deputy commissioner and the DTCP of plaster falling off the walls, seepage, structural defects but no action has been taken. “Action needs to be taken to rectify the defects to prevent mishaps, like the one in Chintels,” said Chauhan.

RS Bhath, district town planner, said that they will be looking into all complaints pending at their office and will try to resolve them one by one. “Currently, we are looking into the reason behind the collapse in Raheja Atharva in Sector 109. We will ensure audits are conducted and repairs are carried out in the housing societies, wherever necessary, at the earliest,” he said.