A year after the roof collapse of Tower D of Chintels Paradiso society in Sector 109 in Gurugram, an uncertain future awaits Vikram Gambhir (68), and other residents, who have all been forced to take up homes on rent, despite paying equated monthly instalments (EMIs) for units that collapsed last year.
Gambhir says the incident has severely affected the lives of the residents of the society.
“We do not want to remember the incident. We only want either a flat of the same size in the same locality with similar specifications or compensation at current market rates. So far, it has been a year in a limbo, chasing justice and living in uncertainty,” Gambhir told Moneycontrol.
On February 10, 2022, the ceilings of several flats in Tower D in the housing complex collapsed, claiming the lives of two women.
The flat adjacent to Gambhir’s on the second floor in Tower D had collapsed that evening.
“I was in my flat on the second floor of the tower when I heard a very loud, explosion-like sound. Me and my son rushed out of the flat and ran towards the adjacent flat and tried to open the door but it was jammed due to the debris. God saved us but the lady in our adjacent flat died. This still haunts us. Our happy home is gone as we are living like refugees now,” Gambhir said.
Residents of the housing complex say though a year has gone nothing constructive has been done on the ground, and they continue to live in “uncertainty”.
The residents have also planned to stage a protest at the society on February 10, 2023, to raise their demands.
Sequence of events
On February 10, 2022, a big portion of Tower D collapsed, killing two women and injuring many others. Besides police investigation, a probe was ordered into the matter and a team of experts from IIT-Delhi was asked to conduct a structural audit.
The final report of the safety audit was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Gurugram, Nishant Kumar Yadav on November 8, 2022. Structural deficiencies were detected in the construction of the tower and it was also clarified in the report that “repair is not possible on technical and economic grounds” and the structure was not fit to live in.
Following the recommendations of the report, the DC had, on November 9, 2022, ordered demolition of the tower in question, and evacuation of neighbouring towers E and F. However, the authorities have not specified any deadline to demolish the tower.
In the order, the builder was asked to settle the compensation-related matter with the homebuyers of Tower D in 60 days, which has already passed.
Currently, 28 families of Tower D are living in rented accommodations in the same complex. The developer is paying them Rs 25,000 a month towards rental expenses for a three BHK flat, and Rs 37,000 for a four BHK unit. The 18-storey Tower D has 64 flats.
Residents speak
Residents of the housing complex said they are living in “uncertainty” as they are not clear whether their flats will be reconstructed or they will get a refund.
Homeowners also alleged that the district administration and the developer had been “playing delay tactics” for the last one year and failed to come up with a solution.
Gambhir, who is also a representative of the Resident Welfare Association of the Chintels Paradiso society, said that after the collapse, the developer, on February 23, 2022, had, in a letter to the administration, said that if the audit report of the tower comes negative, it will reconstruct the tower.
“The audit report has clearly said that the condominium was unfit for living and orders for demolition have also been issued. Then why is the builder not complying with the order? Why is the administration not pressuring the builder to reconstruct the tower as promised by the developer in its letter to them? The developer and the administration are playing delay tactics,” he said.
Calls and messages sent to the deputy commissioner seeking his comment did not elicit any response.
There was no immediate response from the developer on the allegations.
Another resident of Tower D, who owns a flat in the tower, and who requested not be named, said that he still shudders to remember the February 10 incident.
“The last one year went in chasing justice, which still eludes us. We have spent all our savings in buying our dream home, which we had to leave and live like refugees,” he said.
He said he had bought his flat in the society in 2017 for Rs 6,700 per sq ft (psf). Currently, the market rate for a similar unit in a similar complex in the neighbourhood is around Rs 12,000-15,000 psf.
“After the third evaluation, the compensation is being offered to us at the rate of Rs 6,900 psf, which is way too low and we will not accept it. It should be given to us as per the current market rates. The process of settlement of our claims should be expedited, as, so far, there has been no movement on the matter despite the deadline having ended on January 9, 2023,” he lamented.
Rakesh Hooda, President, Chintels Paradiso RWA, said the entire year passed in uncertainty and no consensus could be achieved on compensation.
He said, in the last one year, there has been no significant progress, which is disappointing.
“Residents of the condominium complex are going through a tough time and are living in constant fear and uncertainty over their future. To raise our demand and mark the one year to the incident, we will hold a candle light protest. A memorandum will be given to the administration, demanding reconstruction of our flats or compensation at the market rate,” he said.
Compensation woes
The administration also directed the developer to settle the dues or liabilities of allottees or flat owners in the tower within 60 days from the date of issuance of the demolition order.
The district administration had a valuation report prepared by two independent assessors but the residents raised objections, saying additional costs, such as stamp duty, extra development costs, and interior designing expenses had not been included in the valuation of their flats by assessors.
A re-evaluation was ordered and the report was submitted to the district administration in December. The revised report kept Rs 5,900 psf as the base price for deciding the valuation of the flats and added stamp duty and other expenditure, such as the money spent on interior works.
Residents denied it and demanded an enhancement in the base price of evaluation and also included the property appreciation cost in the last one year.
It was further revised in January this year and the base price evaluation was enhanced to Rs 6,900 psf but residents did not approve it, and reiterated their demand to keep it at contemporary market rate.
Structural safety audit
The tower collapse had raised concerns about the construction quality of buildings in the society. Structural audit was also initiated for Towers E, F, G and H of the society that has a total of nine towers.
The structural audit report of Tower E and F was submitted to the district administration but is yet to be released, while the safety audit of Tower G was conducted in January this year.
The demolition order of Tower D had also recommended evacuation of towers E and F.
Manoj Singh, a resident of the society, said they have not been shown the report of Tower E and F but the report has deemed it unfit to live.
“Though we have not seen the report, I came to know that the audit report declared E and F towers as unfit to live. Residents of other towers, such as E, F and G, are also living under safety concerns as these towers are not in good condition,” Singh said.
Authority speak
While calls and messages to the deputy commissioner did not elicit any response, sources in the district administration said any further revision in compensation rates is unlikely as this is the “final compensation”.
Sources said a compensation order is likely to be issued in the next week so that residents can be paid compensation at the earliest. They, however, added that if anyone is dissatisfied with the compensation, they can freely approach the court.
Sources said that after the final compensation is decided and paid, the process of demolition of tower D may start.
Sources also said that the safety audit report that has been received by the administration is being reviewed. It is likely to be shared with residents next week.
Developer’s Take
Chintels India Pvt Ltd said that it has written to the authorities and also informed the residents of Tower D that it is willing to compensate them by buying back their apartments at Rs 5,500 per square foot.
“The rates have reportedly been increased from Rs 5,200 to Rs 6,900 per square foot by the administration. This has been the stumbling block for reaching a fair rate of compensation,” Chintels said in a statement.
On demolition of Tower D, Chintels said that they have still not been provided actual laboratory test results of the audit that was conducted by the SIT through the IIT Delhi.
“We have decided to seek a second opinion by engaging CBRI (Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee) a professional agency that is a government agency. We have already signed the contract and deposited the fees for a structural audit. We have asked the authorities to kindly wait for the report of the CBRI and put the demolition order in abeyance till then,” the developer said in the statement.
On the issue of ongoing probe, the developer said that the case has been taken over by the CBI and they are fully cooperating with them.
Legal battle
In November 2022, the affected residents of Chintels Paradiso housing complex moved the Supreme Court, seeking reconstruction of their flats at the same site or a ‘fair compensation’ to buy similar accommodation in the neighbourhood.
Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan argued for the petitioners before the Bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy. The Bench, on November 21, 2022, issued a notice to the builder while hearing the plea for fair compensation.
The apex court had observed that the collapse was “serious in nature” and wondered how a structure that was built recently could collapse.
The Supreme Court had set January 6, 2023, as the date for the next hearing but it was adjourned and the next date was fixed after four weeks.
According to residents, the hearing was again adjourned because of the passing away of Bhushan’s father. The next date of hearing is yet to be provided, they said.
The probe
After the February 10 tower collapse incident, an FIR was registered at Bajghera police station. A special investigation team (SIT) was set up to probe the incident.
The SIT made the first arrest in December 2022, 10 months after the incident.
Amit Austin, owner of Manish Switchgear and Construction, the company that was carrying out repair work in one of the flats that triggered the collapse, was arrested by police in December 2022.
However, the Haryana government transferred the case to the CBI on July 18, 2022. The CBI, on January 17 this year, filed a first information report against Ashok Saloman , chairman of the Chintels Group and took over the investigation.
According to sources, the CBI has approached the Gurugram district administration and sought documents from them.
Sources said that, on January 25, the CBI sent a letter to the deputy commissioner and sought details about the minutes of a meeting of the committee of the district administration that was set up by the state government after the collapse to probe the incident.
An official of the district administration, who wished not to be identified, said that all assistance will be provided to the CBI in the matter.
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