Builder held for inferior construction

Sunday Times of India, New Delh,Dwaipayan Ghosh, TNN, Mar 27, 2011, 07.22am IST

NEW DELHI: The Economic Offences Wing of the crime branch arrested a builder, Avdesh Mittal, on Friday after investigations showed that the concrete used in construction of a five-storeyed building in the M Block market road in Greater Kailash-I was of poor quality and the structure can collapse in case of a major earthquake.

The demolition of the structure, which was constructed in 2006, had been a bone of contention between the owner and the builder with the property owner wanting the structure to be razed because of the "inferior quality material" allegedly used by the builder in the construction , which resulted in seepage that caused cracks in the building.

It was only after two years and a trial court's stricture asking the police to take necessary action in the matter as the structure posed "probable danger" to the people living near it, that the EOW of Delhi Police was spurred into action and arrested Mittal, a resident of Greater Kailash-I , who is also the first person arrested in the case. The arrest comes days after Japan witnessed a devastating earthquake and tremors from Hindukush caused panic among Delhiites. Police said one N K Chauhan -the structural engineer who gave the certificate for the building -will be arrested soon.

"During interrogation, Chauhan admitted that he had neither supervised the construction , nor inspected the building, and had issued a certificate on Mittal's request, whom he claimed was his friend," said an investigating officer from EOW.

Referring to the recent incident of building collapse in Laxmi Nagar, the court had earlier asked the state government to do the needful in the case as the "danger of the construction (GK I building) is of a similar nature" .Furthermore, the building is situated in a thickly populated urban colony.

The court's order came while hearing the complaint of one Rajender Chhabra, who claimed that he had entered into an agreement in 2005 with a real estate company and its three directors for getting a house constructed on his 500 square yard plot. He claimed that he had entered into a business deal with the company for building a strong, earthquakeproof, three-storeyed house.

He, however, moved the court in 2008 alleging that the builders were cheating him by using poor quality material. He also claimed that he had got the building examined by a private body (ATES), which had opined that the material used was of very inferior quality and the building was earthquake-prone . The report concluded that the building should be immediately demolished to avoid any mishap.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-27/delhi/29194520_1_collapse-building-quality-material