23 , February , 2022
PTI: The partial collapse of a tower at Chintels Paradiso housing project in Gurugram, Haryana has exposed serious lapses in the working of both development authorities and real estate regulators in the state under the realty law RERA, according to Forum For People’s Collective Efforts (FPCE).
FPCE, an apex body for home buyers, has demanded that development authorities and regulators under RERA should monitor the construction quality from the beginning of a project to fulfil their responsibilities of protecting the interest of home buyers.
Two people had died in the partial building collapse incident that took place in Chintels Paradiso on February 10. In another case, a housing society in Gurugram comprising over 700 flats, constructed by state-owned NBCC Ltd, will be demolished after it was declared unsafe for habitation.
“Home buyers spend their hard earned savings to buy house for life but in this case the collapse happened within four years of possession. This has exposed the serious lapse on the working of both the development authorities and also the RERA authorities,” FPCE President Abhay Upadhyay told PTI.
Real estate developers are definitely to be blamed for poor construction quality, but the onus also falls on these authorities, he added.
Upadhyay pointed out that many such cases have been witnessed in the last few years where chunks from roof have fallen but still no quality check measures were being undertaken by development authorities or by RERA authorities either during construction period or before possession is being offered.
“Issue of Occupation Certificate (OC) is now merely a formality rather than actual physical inspection, which is mostly obtained through illegal means by builders. Sadly, the RERA authorities merely rubber stamp such certificates which certainly does not absolve them from their prime responsibility to protect the interest of home buyers,” he alleged.
