GURUGRAM: The operation to retrieve the body of a Chintels Paradiso The resident buried under tons of rubble was suspended for several hours on Saturday as another chunk of concrete from the sixth floor of Tower D, where the vertical collapse of living rooms of five flats till the second floor originated, came crashing down.
The fresh collapse led to a furore in the housing society’s compound, where residents came with handwritten posters demanding a CBI probe into the February 10 cave-in that led to the death of two residents, Ekta Bhardwaj (D-203, second floor) and Sunita Shrivastava (D-103, first floor). The latter’s body remains trapped in the debris that landed in her living room.
National Disaster Response Force teams, which have been digging through concrete for 48 hours now, have had to be cautious because the first floor is precariously poised. The weight of concrete sitting on it has led to the floor curving downwards and the impact of the chunk that fell into it on Saturday led to the bulge touching the ground floor.
From 11am to 4pm, the NDRF operations remained suspended as personnel focused on reinforcing the ground floor and preventing the first from caving in.
NDRF commandant PK Tiwari told TOI on Saturday, “We have installed supports on the ground floor and basement to avoid further collapse. The rescue operation was stopped for a few hours, but we have resumed it and will try to complete it today.”
The NDRF teams also began progressively dismantling the concrete bulge that has settled on the ground floor.
Residents of towers G and C of the society, meanwhile, said they had spotted cracks in a first floor flat of Tower G (102) and the basement of Tower C. The residents brought this up with subdivisional magistrate Ankita Choudhary, who was supervising rescue operations at the complex. Officials said the appropriate steps would be taken to address the concerns of residents. Choudhary said an engineering team has been deployed in the society.
At the main Paradiso entrance, residents pitched tents to sit in protest till their demands for a CBI probe and a police case against the developer on behalf of the entire society is registered. An FIR has been filed against the Chintels MD on a complaint from Ekta’s husband.
Jittery residents of several towers spent virtually the entire day in the compound. “We fear going inside our houses,” said Ajay Kumar, adding they will continue their protest till justice is done and officials whose negligence led to structural problems being overlooked are brought to book.
In a statement on Saturday, Chintels said Paradiso group “was contracted to the reputed Bhayana Builders after a stringent due diligence process for construction”. “We have submitted the contract copy to the DTP Gurugram. It clearly specifies the highest quality of material and workmanship to be used for the project. As per our records submitted by the contractor, the best of materials from well-known players have been used for the project, details of which have also been shared with the investigating authorities. We ourselves will take up the matter very seriously so that not just us but other developers and buyers do not face a similar situation in future. The project from 2017, we have been available for any resident complaints and many residents have been appreciative of the same. Affected residents are currently being accommodated in our sister projects with our staff completely monitoring the situation round the clock. We will duly compensate affected residents or accommodate them in alternate arrangements till necessary repair work is completed,” the company stated.
The fresh collapse led to a furore in the housing society’s compound, where residents came with handwritten posters demanding a CBI probe into the February 10 cave-in that led to the death of two residents, Ekta Bhardwaj (D-203, second floor) and Sunita Shrivastava (D-103, first floor). The latter’s body remains trapped in the debris that landed in her living room.
National Disaster Response Force teams, which have been digging through concrete for 48 hours now, have had to be cautious because the first floor is precariously poised. The weight of concrete sitting on it has led to the floor curving downwards and the impact of the chunk that fell into it on Saturday led to the bulge touching the ground floor.
From 11am to 4pm, the NDRF operations remained suspended as personnel focused on reinforcing the ground floor and preventing the first from caving in.
NDRF commandant PK Tiwari told TOI on Saturday, “We have installed supports on the ground floor and basement to avoid further collapse. The rescue operation was stopped for a few hours, but we have resumed it and will try to complete it today.”
The NDRF teams also began progressively dismantling the concrete bulge that has settled on the ground floor.
Residents of towers G and C of the society, meanwhile, said they had spotted cracks in a first floor flat of Tower G (102) and the basement of Tower C. The residents brought this up with subdivisional magistrate Ankita Choudhary, who was supervising rescue operations at the complex. Officials said the appropriate steps would be taken to address the concerns of residents. Choudhary said an engineering team has been deployed in the society.
At the main Paradiso entrance, residents pitched tents to sit in protest till their demands for a CBI probe and a police case against the developer on behalf of the entire society is registered. An FIR has been filed against the Chintels MD on a complaint from Ekta’s husband.
Jittery residents of several towers spent virtually the entire day in the compound. “We fear going inside our houses,” said Ajay Kumar, adding they will continue their protest till justice is done and officials whose negligence led to structural problems being overlooked are brought to book.
In a statement on Saturday, Chintels said Paradiso group “was contracted to the reputed Bhayana Builders after a stringent due diligence process for construction”. “We have submitted the contract copy to the DTP Gurugram. It clearly specifies the highest quality of material and workmanship to be used for the project. As per our records submitted by the contractor, the best of materials from well-known players have been used for the project, details of which have also been shared with the investigating authorities. We ourselves will take up the matter very seriously so that not just us but other developers and buyers do not face a similar situation in future. The project from 2017, we have been available for any resident complaints and many residents have been appreciative of the same. Affected residents are currently being accommodated in our sister projects with our staff completely monitoring the situation round the clock. We will duly compensate affected residents or accommodate them in alternate arrangements till necessary repair work is completed,” the company stated.
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