Chintels: District admin gives nod to demolish four more towers

THE DISTRICT administration on Monday issued the demolition order off our towers that are" unfit for habitation" at Chintels Paradiso housing complex in Gurgaon Sector 109, while also seeking a fort nightly report on the matter.

The administration had already issued the order to demolish one tower in February 2022 when a portion of a sixth-floor apartment in Tower D collapsed all the way down to the first floor, killing two women and injuring a man. Following this, Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav had ordered the evacuation of five tower soft he residential complex—namely D, E, F, G and H — over the last two years. After the builder wrote to Yadav, seeking immediate evacuation of these towers for demolition, the administration passed orders under the Disaster Management Act.

According to the order issued by Yadav, the authorities granted permission for the demolition after the matter was deliberated by the committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Hitesh Kumar Meena and the representatives of departments including Fire, Police, Labour, C&D (construction and demolition) Waste, MCG (Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon), Regional Officer, HPCB (Haryana Pollution Control Board), DDMA (District Disaster Management Authority), DTP-E (District Town Planner Enforcement), and PWD-B&R (Public Works Department).

"Accordingly, permission has been given for the demolition of towers D, E, F, G and H of Group Housing Society, namely M/s Chintels Paradiso Pvt Ltd, subjected to the compliances of policy/ guidelines of the following departments," read the order, adding that the permission does not provide immunity from any other applicable state/ Centre law/act/policy related to the subject work.

J NY ad av, vice-president of Chintels India Ltd, said that they have to get all the compliances in place before the demolition process begins. "We will get the DC'S order, and in a month or two, the demolition process will begin," he said.

Uttkarsh Mehta, partner at Edifice Engineering, which is carrying out the exercise, said it is conducting the initial step in demolition, which is commonly called "cut and cap". This involves barricading the Phase 1 towers (D, E, F, G, H) from Phase 2, and ensuring no human ingression occurs.

Mehta told The Indian Express on Monday: "The plan is to opt for selective demolition. We will first remove loose material like doors, fans, and lights from the structure… and segregate them as C&D waste that would later go to recycling plants. We will then raze the structure, except for the beams, concrete columns, internal and external walls."

After this phase, Mehta said, they plan to bring in high-reach excavators that could bring down a 15-floor structure. The Chintels towers being demolished, however, have 14, 16 and 18 floors.

"According to Plan A, we will (demolish) three floors of a structure manually, as the tallest machine available in India can only go up to 15 storeys. We will bring down the structure to the height of the machine(s). Under Plan B, another way to raze the 18-storey tower is to demolish the smaller towers, get the debris, and climb up the debris to tackle the tallest tower. This would act as a ramp to help us demolish the building... After razing the structure, we will segregate steel which is salvageable and can be reused from the rubble, and sell it... the rest will be sent to a C&D Waste plant,” Mehta added.

Though the committee which looks into the IIT'S audit report had also declared another tower (J) "unsafe", it has not yet been included in the plan. Citing a balcony collapse on the Tower J's fifth floor on January 12, the report stated that the incident concurs with the Iit-delhi report that chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion can accelerate without any warning, leading to a loss in structural capacity.

Manoj Singh, a resident of Tower G — who stays at another housing complex in the vicinity — said that the demolition order was a welcome step. "Reconstruction could only take place after demolition, and we request the builder to comply with all the guidelines the authorities have directed to follow. This will ensure that the demolition process is carried out safely and conveniently for the people in the vicinity," said Singh, adding that the sooner the demolition, the quicker reconstruction will take place. "The builder should get approvals and clearances during the demolition, so there is no delay for reconstruction,” he added.