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The department of town and country planning (DTCP) on Wednesday issued directions to the developers of Chintels Paradiso condominium in Sector 109 to get Tower G vacated at the earliest as it has been declared unsafe for habitation by the district administration following a safety audit by IIT-Delhi experts..
The department also said the audit report of Tower J, which is pending, is expected to be submitted within the next 15 days as payment has been made by the developer to the private lab conducting structural tests. Officials said due to a delay in payment, the audit report of Tower J was being withheld by the lab
Currently, five towers of the condominium — towers D, E,F, G, and H — have been deemed unsafe for habitation while tower A, B, and C have been deemed safe, though it has been recommended that their structural condition be regularly monitored.
The structural audit of the entire condominium was ordered by the state government after six floors of Tower D collapsed partially on February 10, 2022, killing two women residents. Besides the structural audit, a criminal case was registered against the developer and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is currently probing the case.
Manish Yadav, district town planner (enforcement), in his order issued on Wednesdaysaid in view of the directions issued by deputy commissioner, Gurugram, on June 12, it is directed that occupants of Tower G vacate the building at the earliest. “The structure has been deemed unsafe for occupants and as such, it must be vacated immediately,” he said.
Tower G has 56 flats of which 12 are currently occupied, a residents’ welfare association (RWA) representative said.
Yadav said they are working on getting the entire structural audit of all nine towers completed at the earliest and, to that end, they have ensured that the developer paid the private laboratory conducting the structural tests so that the pending audit report of Tower J is released within the next two weeks.
“We are likely to get the structural audit report of Tower J in the next two or three weeks as the developer has paid ₹25 lakh to the lab as fee,” he said.
According to DTCP, there are 52 flats in Tower J and 48 of them are currently occupied. The owners of these flats are keeping their fingers crossed until the audit report from IIT-Delhi experts come in. DTCP officials, however, said this tower was constructed in the second phase of the project and is likely to be deemed safe.
Chintel Paradiso consists of nine residential towers. Towers D, E, F, G, and H were constructed in the first phase and A, B, C, and J were built in the second phase. All residential towers of the first phase have been declared unsafe by IIT-Delhi due to the presence of high chloride content in the concrete which has corroded the reinforcements rendering the buildings unstable.
On the other hand, DTCP officials said towers A, B, and C, built in the second phase, have been declared safe for living, but it has been recommended that structural audit of these towers be mandatorily conducted every year.
The developer said they have made the payment to the laboratory but generating revenue is proving difficult as the administration has banned registry of properties in their other projects. “We have paid around ₹2.25 crore for the structural audit process and whatever is left will also be paid. Right now, we are facing difficulties in generating cash as registry has been banned in our other projects. We request the authorities to revoke it so that we can refund Paradiso owners their flat cost and also make other payments,” said JN Yadav, vice-president, Chintels India Limited.
Yadav said a separate audit conducted by Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), which was paid by the developer, has also confirmed that there is high chloride content in concrete of Tower D. “The D tower will be demolished as per the guidelines but our priority right now is to refund flat owners who have accepted the buyback offer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manoj Singh, owner of a flat in Tower G, said that they have already challenged the invocation of Disaster Management Act in the court as the district administration has taken no steps to rehabilitate the residents. “We oppose the vacation order and also the amount of refund being offered in the buyback offer made by the developer as current market price of our property is not so low. We want the flats to be reconstructed and given to us,” he said.
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