Ten months after a portion of the sixth floor in tower D of Chintels Paradiso society in Gurugram's sector 109 collapsed all the way down to the first floor killing two persons, the police arrested the proprietor of the firm involved in the repair works in the housing complex, the first arrest in the case.
The accused, Amit Austin, the proprietor of Manish Switchgear and Construction, which was the firm involved in the repair works, was arrested on December 21 by a SIT formed to probe the case, said the police.
His firm was carrying out tiling work in a flat of the tower D of Chintels Paradiso society allegedly without adequate safety measures, the police said in a statement.
It added that after the February 10 tower collapse incident, a FIR was registered at Bajghera police station. The arrest was made by the SIT, which is being headed by ACP Udhyog Vihar Gurugram. The accused will be produced before the court.
In February, a portion of a sixth-floor apartment in tower D collapsed vertically, killing two women and injuring many others.
Following the incident, besides the police investigation, a probe was ordered in the matter and a team of experts from IIT-Delhi was asked to conduct a structural audit.
The final report of safety audit was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav on November 8. Structural deficiencies in the construction of the tower were found and it was also clarified in the report that the repair is not possible on technical and economic grounds.
Following the recommendations of the report, a demolition order of the tower D was issued on November 9 and the builder was asked to settle the compensation related matter with homebuyers in 60 days.
Currently, 28 families from tower D are living in rented accommodations in the same complex. The developer is paying these owners Rs 25,000 a month towards rental expenses for a 3 BHK flat, and Rs 37,000 for 4 a BHK unit. The 18-storied tower D tower has 50 flats.
Calls and texts send to Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramchandran and Gurugram DC Nishant Kumar Yadav to seek their comments on the matter, did not yield any response.
Residents of the Chintels Paradiso housing complex said the arrest evoked mix response as some hailed the move while some termed it “merely an eyewash”.
Chintels Paradiso RWA President Rakesh Hooda welcomed the move and demanded that the administration should also help them in getting the residents their dues.
“Police informed us that Amit Austin from Manish Switchgear firm has been arrested. It is good that at least someone responsible for the accident was arrested. The administration should not lose focus on our demands of fair compensation. We should either be given the replacement cost according to the current price in the area after re-evaluation of our flats, or they should provide new flats to residents at the same site after demolition of the tower,” Hooda told Moneycontrol.
Also Read: Chintels Paradiso residents claim developer wants second audit of tower D
Another resident of the housing complex, Manoj Singh, however, termed the arrest “an eyewash”.
“Arrest of the accused from the firm responsible for repair works shows that this is merely an eyewash while the real culprit is the developer. The builder must be arrested for poor quality construction. The IIT audit report clearly mentions that the construction was of substandard quality and tower cannot be repaired. So residents should be compensated well against their properties that are to be demolished,” Singh said.
The tower portion collapse incident has raised concerns on the construction quality buildings in the society. The process of structural audit was also initiated in Tower 'E' and 'F' of the society that has a total of nine towers.
There was no response available from the developer Chintels India Private Limited over the development.
Also Read: Supreme Court issues notice to builder in Chintels Paradiso case
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