New Delhi: Almost a year after the partial collapse of the 18-storey Chintels Paradiso apartment in Gurugram, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation and filed an FIR against Ashok Solomon, director of the Chintels group.
The high-end society with 64 flats is located along the Dwarka Expressway in Gurgugram’s Sector 109.
On 10 February 2022, a large portion of the living room on the sixth floor of Tower D of Chintels Paradiso collapsed all the way to the first floor. Two women, Rekha Bhardwaj and Sunita Shrivastava, were killed while several others were injured in the collapse.
The Haryana government transferred the case to the CBI in July while the Centre forwarded it to the CBI in December.
In November, a structural audit report by a team from IIT-Delhi revealed glaring deficiencies in the building and bad quality of construction material. It recommended that Tower D, where the collapse took place, be demolished.
What has happened so far
Days after the collapse, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar ordered a structural audit of the affected area. Soon after, a Special Investigation Team was formed and a team of experts from IIT-Delhi was constituted by the district administration to inspect the collapse site.
Following the recommendation by the IIT-Delhi team, Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav had ordered demolition of the tower and had directed the builder to settle the dues of the residents. However, no demolition has taken place so far.
In December, the developer of Chintels Paradiso sought a second opinion on conducting a second structural audit of the towers. The developer claimed that the towers were repairable and expressed that the second audit be conducted by a more “credible and transparent agency” of international credibility.
Meanwhile, a structural audit of the other eight towers of the society is underway.
“We are awaiting the structural audit reports of the other towers. Once that is out, all the towers will be demolished. Tower D has come to be unsafe. We are expecting the report on Tower E and F this month and by March, we will have all the reports following which the demolition process will start,” additional deputy commissioner Vishram Meena said.
What residents have to say
After the collapse, residents of the Tower D were rehabilitated to other apartments within the eight towers in the Paradiso Society. The affected families are demanding proper rehabilitation instead of temporary accommodation.
“We, residents, want a home for a home. It is that simple. We have lost our home that we made with our life savings. Nothing can compensate for it but only another home. Either they reconstruct it, or give us compensation at par with the current market value,” said Dr Lalit Kapoor, resident at Chintels Paradiso.
Another resident said that the affected families want justice to be served. “It has been a year and now an FIR has been filed. The process is slow. We want the people behind this tragedy to be given harshest punishment. Two women lost their lives under the rubbles. How tragic is that?” she said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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