No decision on payment to families who were forced to leave homes, Real Estate News, ET Real Estate

Gurugram: Process of assessment and compensation for families who were forced to leave their flats after vertical subsidence of the floor of the living room in five flats. Chintel Paradiso Last year, February 10 was supposed to bring some relief to those who had lost their greatest security – a home.

Instead, it has become a source of tension for them, which has yet to be resolved.

On 9 November, the district administration ordered the demolition of Tower D, where significant corrosion of steel reinforcement as well as high chloride content in concrete was detected in the rubble, based on the findings of an audit by IIT-Delhi. The report states that it is not technically and economically feasible to renovate the 18-storey building with 64 flats.

Tower D cannot be demolished before the claims of the flat owners are settled, for which a time limit of 60 days has been fixed for issuing the order to demolish the tower. Instead three months have passed and four rounds of evaluation have taken place, but the flat owner and Chintel have not been able to agree on this.

The developer had initially offered Rs 5,500 per sq ft for the flats, taking into account the prevailing market rates of the area.

The flat owners rejected it as too little. By the fourth round of valuation, the value of the flats went up to Rs 6,900 per sq ft after the authorities included stamp duty, external and internal development charges (EDC/IDC) and other expenses. The next order is likely to be issued by the district administration after discussion with the residents. However, the developer has written to the Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav and termed the repeated evaluations as “unrealistic”.

So far, the developer has settled the claims of the owners of six flats damaged in the cave-in.

Since then most other residents of Tower D have been temporarily accommodated in other unsold flats within the Paradiso complex or have taken houses on rent, being billed to the realtor.

Meanwhile, the district administration has also ordered the vacation of two more towers – E and F – after residents complained of construction defects and cracks. There are 116 flats in the towers, but only 42 families currently live there.

The developer has been directed to relocate the families, but they are not willing to vacate until the structural audit report of the towers is shared with them by IIT-Delhi.