Following Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s directions, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register FIRs against 39 officials, contractors, and builders involved in the construction of Signature View Apartments, for “cheating, criminal breach of trust, and endangering the lives of residents,’’ officials at the LG’s office said.
Erring officials against whom the FIR will be lodged include three Members (Engineering), six chief engineers, nine superintending engineers, nine executive engineers, four assistant engineers, and eight junior engineers.
Following complaints by residents, on January 24 this year, Saxena had ordered the DDA to redevelop the “structurally damaged” building in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar and support the thousands of residents facing “grave danger to life and property.’’
Taking a serious note of the “grave lapses” that resulted in the building, comprising 336 flats, to become structurally unsafe in just after 2-3 years of construction, Saxena had also asked the DDA to register an FIR against erring officials and contractors.
Approximately 1,600 people live in the Signature View Apartment housing complex, comprising 12 towers.
A senior official at the LG’s office said that the move was a crackdown against “corruption and negligence” at the top level.
The apartment complex was built between 2007–2010, and was allotted to the residents in 2011-2012. But in just a few years, the building had become structurally unsafe.
“Vice Chairman, DDA, has requested the CBI to register an FIR against all concerned, including the contractors, namely Winner Construction Pvt Ltd. and Grover Construction Pvt Ltd, the testing agencies — Bharat Test House and Delhi Test House, all involved DDA officials, and unknown persons for the offences of ‘cheating, criminal breach of trust, endangering the life and safety of others’ and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,” the official said, quoting the DDA’s Chief Vigilance Officer’s letter to the Director, CBI.
He said the move comes as a stern message from the LG against any “collusion and laxity” on the part of officials, and any compromise with the safety of the residents, will not be tolerated.
As per the LG’s directions, the vigilance inquiry conducted by DDA has established “collusion” between DDA officials and builders or contractors, which resulted in “compromising the quality and structural safety of the construction, thereby causing wrongful loss to DDA, besides putting at peril the lives and property of hundreds of residents.”
The vigilance inquiry also found that provisions pertaining to quality control as highlighted in the contract and the CPWD manual were bypassed, owing to which the construction had failed in less than a decade of the building's erection, the official added.
Quoting the vigilance report, the official said that the concrete in the structure is, at most locations, of a “lower grade” than required.
“It was the duty of the contractor and all the concerned officers to ensure that prescribed norms of quality control and terms and conditions of the agreement are followed. It appears that either the officers had failed to point out the deficiencies during the construction, or colluded with the agency to compromise the quality for illicit gain,” the official said, quoting the report.
The apartment complex was built by DDA and flats were allotted to buyers in 2012. According to residents, construction-related issues started surfacing from 2012-13, soon after the society became operational. This forced the residents to complain to the DDA.
Residents noticed the condition of the building deteriorate rapidly, with concrete falling off ceilings, plaster peeling off walls, beams and walls developing cracks, and iron bars corroding.
They made several representations to the DDA, and much testing was carried out over the last 10 years, but it did not result in any concrete solution to their problems.
A 2021-2022 study conducted by IIT Delhi at the behest of DDA had found the building “structurally unsafe,” with a recommendation to “vacate and dismantle” the same immediately.
The Signature View Apartment RWA (residents’ welfare association) had written to the Lieutenant Governor on December 13, 2022, and demanded his intervention in the matter to ensure safety of the residents.
Following the letter, Lieutenant Governor Saxena, on January 24, asked the DDA to redevelop the housing complex and “rehabilitate the residents in the interim.”
Residents speak
Bhupinder Chaudhary, a resident of the housing complex and a representative of the RWA, welcomed the move and demanded that the Authority should also clear its stand on the modalities of the redevelopment and think about the betterment of residents.
“Since the beginning we have been talking about collusion between officials and contractors. There should be no misuse of public money and laxity in work, putting the lives of people in danger. We ask the DDA to think about the plight of residents and take the necessary steps to resolve the issue,” Chaudhary said.
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