All Amrapali housing projects are safe, NBCC tells SC

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SME Times News Bureau | 07 Mar, 2022
The National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) on Monday informed the Supreme Court that there is no problem with the structural safety of Amrapali projects and it has appointed VNIT Nagpur and NIT Jalandhar to carry out the structural audit of the buildings.

"All projects are safe," senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, representing NBCC, submitted before a bench comprising Justices U.U. Lalit and Bela. M. Trivedi, referring to the negative reporting in the press after counsel for Amrapali home buyers, on the last hearing, raised quality issues with the housing projects where NBCC is the project management consultant.

Dave informed the bench that his client has appointed VNIT Nagpur and NIT Jalandhar to carry out the structural audit of the buildings.

Kumar Mihir, counsel representing Amrapali home buyers, said: "The NBCC has assured the court about the structural safety of Amrapali buildings and an independent structural safety audit by expert agencies appointed by NBCC will hopefully prove the same."

He added that the home buyers are extremely thankful to the apex court, which took it upon itself to ensure the structural safety of the buildings.

On February 21, advocate M.L. Lahoty, representing Amrapali housing homebuyers, submitted before the top court that NBCC's Green View Society, which has over 650 housing units, has reported major structural issues, while pointing at quality issues reported in Amrapali projects. NBCC is the project management consultant for the Amrapali projects and is responsible for the quality and timely completion of work. Lahoty urged the top court to take cognizance of the matter.

The top court appointed receiver for the Amrapali projects, senior advocate R. Venkataramani, on the last hearing had highlighted the residents of various Amrapali projects keep contacting him with regard to matters, such as, quality of work by contractors, internal issues between residents and associations, disputes between residents of two projects (Sapphire 1 and 2), issues created by residents concerning handing over completed items of work by NBCC, etc.

"The Note also indicates that issues concerning remedial execution works by NBCC, and quality of execution of projects etc, are matters to be explained by NBCC and to be taken care of by the NBCC," said the top court in its February 21 order.

Dave submitted that the NBCC has requisitioned the services of two third party agencies, VNIT Nagpur and NIT Jalandhar, to apprise it of quality control issues and matters relating to adherence to quality standards. He assured the court that construction work undertaken by the NBCC will be of good quality and there would not be any compromise with quality.

In February, a building partially collapsed in Gurugram's Chintels Paradiso, which left two persons dead. And, days after this incident, NBCC Green View Society located in Sector 37-D, was declared unsafe for the residents.