Residents of Gurugram’s Chintels Paradiso towers refuse to vacate, demand reconstruction of flats at same site

Residents’ demand

Residents said the administration should also have issued an order for the reconstruction of these towers and their flats and also directed the builder to rehabilitate residents in the meantime and pay rent at market rates.

Rakesh Hooda, a tower E resident and president of the Chintels Paradiso Resident Welfare Association (RWA), said that people are not willing to leave their homes until there are clear and specific orders for the reconstruction of flats.

“We will not vacate these buildings until district administration clearly orders the developer to reconstruct our flats at the same site after demolishing these structures. We don’t want our fate to hang in balance,” Hooda said.

He added, “We demand that the builder should give us rent at the market rate and rehabilitate us in rented accommodation till our new flats are constructed.”

Residents also demanded that the occupancy certificate of the towers that have been declared unsafe should be cancelled and action should be taken against the officials of the district administration responsible for the sad state of the affair.

“We want the administration to revoke the occupancy certificate (OC) of all the towers that have been declared unsafe. They should be reconstructed at the same site and fresh OCs should be given and then flats should be handed over to the affected residents,” Hooda demanded.

Another resident Sumit said that people do not want to take any chance which puts the future at stake.

“Seeing the construction quality, we knew that these towers will also be declared unsafe for living. It is a case of sheer neglect by the builder. We want our flats to be reconstructed at the same site and the affected residents should be shifted to other rented accommodations by the developer and he should also pay our rents as it is the builder’s fault that the construction quality is poor,” he said.

There are 56 flats in tower E and 60 in tower F of the Chintels Paradiso housing complex located in Sector 109 of Gurugram.

The issue

On February 10, 2022, the ceilings of several flats in tower D of the complex collapsed, killing two. Following the incident, besides a police investigation, a probe was ordered into the matter and a team of experts from IIT-Delhi was asked to conduct a structural audit.

In November, the Gurugram district administration ordered the demolition of tower D in the society after it was found unfit for habitation. The demolition order also noted that there was sagging in one of the balconies of tower F and other signs of distress in various other flats of towers E and F. As a result, the administration advised the evacuation of these two towers.

The structural safety audit report of towers E and F was submitted to the administration in November last year but it was under review by the administration.

According to the district administration, the structural safety audit of other towers including A, G and H is also underway.

“The work of sampling of towers A and G has been completed while the sampling of tower H is going on. Any decision on the fate of towers E and F will be taken only after the structural safety audit report of other remaining towers is also submitted to the administration,” additional deputy commissioner, Gurugram, Meena told Moneycontrol.

Several families in towers E and F had moved out of the condominiums and currently, 40 families are residing in these two towers. The height of tower E is 14 floors while tower F is 15-floor high.

As many as 28 families in 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 three-BHK flat, and Rs 37,000 for a four-BHK unit. The 18-storied tower D has 50 flats.

Another resident, who wished not to be identified, also echoed the demands and said there is no clarity on how the evacuation will take place and what will happen to residents and these towers.

“We cannot leave our flats until we are certain that we will be given flat against a flat at the same location. Though the structural safety audit report of E and F towers has been released still the ambiguity prevails on the fate of these structures. The modalities of rehabilitation, relocation, rent and compensation are still to be worked out. We can leave our homes only after the administration and the builder provides clarity on these issues,” he said.

The developer’s take

Reacting to the development, a Chintels spokesperson said, “At the time of last year’s unfortunate incident we had offered to relocate the residents of towers E and F who had concerns for their safety. We informed the authorities of the same. However, at the time the residents refused to vacate. Now that the IIT report has come, we are willing to relocate them as well and we also are extending our previous compensation offer of Rs 5,500 per square foot to them as well.”

The IIT-Delhi in its report, a copy of which is with Moneycontrol, mentioned that there is rapid and widespread corrosion of reinforcement almost throughout the structure of towers E and F.

“This corrosion is due to chlorides that were mixed into the concrete at the time of its production. The poor quality of concrete has also played a role in the rapid deterioration. Given the high chloride content in the concrete almost throughout the structure, a repair of these structures for safe usage is not technically and economically feasible. In the current condition, due to the rapid corrosion of reinforcement due to the presence of chlorides, the structure is not safe for habitation,” the IIT-Delhi report stated.

The report said that frequent repairs in the structures, as has been reported by the residents, are also needed because of the corrosion of steel reinforcement due to the presence of chlorides.