E-Paper
Mohali Sector 83 cave-in: SIT holds plot owner guilty after ‘visual inspection’
The Mohali administration has sent the SIT’s report to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority for further action against the plots’ owner Raman Aggarwal, proprietor of Aeren IT Solutions
Over two months after 16 vehicles were damaged after the pavement of a building caved in due to digging in the adjoining plots in Sector 83 on June 14, a special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the district administration has found the plots’ owner guilty after “visual inspection”.
The district administration has sent the SIT’s report to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for further action against the plots’ owner Raman Aggarwal, proprietor of Aeren IT Solutions.
On June 14, the pavement of the adjoining building had collapsed during excavation in Plot Numbers I-49 and I-50, owned by Aggarwal. No one was injured in the incident.
Deputy commissioner Aashika Jain had marked a magisterial probe into the incident to the Mohali SDM, following which a six-member SIT, including executive engineers of PUDA and divisional engineers of GMADA, was formed.
Sharing details, district revenue officer Major Gurjinder Singh Benipal (retd) said, “An FIR was registered against the owner of Aeren IT Solutions and now, an inquiry report has been submitted. We have written to GMADA for recovery of the penalty as per the prescribed procedure.”
What the report found
The report stated that during “visual inspection”, it was observed that if the owner of Plot Numbers I-49 and I-50 in Alpha IT City had carried proper pile work for sustaining the structure of adjoining Plot Number I-48, then it could not have collapsed in any case.
The report further read that whatever the reason may be, excessive deep excavation (28 feet) and vertical excavation appeared to be the reason behind the pavement’s collapse.
Taking into account the above facts, the SIT is of the opinion that while excavating, the owner of the two plots appears to not have followed the guidelines of laying emphasis on soil stability, soil pressure, rainfall, water pressure, surcharge load and earthquake, etc., the report added.
Plot owner cries foul
On the other hand, plot owner, Raman Aggarwal, who was booked for negligence, mischief and damage, has claimed that he had complied with all bylaws and was wrongly named in the FIR.
He said there was no concept of “visual inspection” and the correct criteria of preparing a report had not been followed, adding that any probe report should be based on technical inputs and backed by facts.
“The SIT did not carry out inspection as per the prescribed procedure. The team has submitted a half-page report after a visual inspection. In engineering, there are prescribed procedures and protocols to be followed to reach a conclusion,” said Aggarwal.
He said secondly, the inspection was ordered for both buildings, but the team did not examine the building on Plot Number I-48. “It shows that the committee has already assumed me guilty. We have filed a counter police complaint and investigation is undergoing. The pavement that collapsed was made of sand without any reinforcement. In fact, we had submitted a request letter immediately after the collapse to GMADA chief administrator to conduct a detailed technical audit of both buildings.”
He added that the pavement collapsed primarily due to persistent water logging, seepage and water leakage. “We noticed a huge seepage in our wall and again informed the authorities concerned of the adjacent building about the same, but no action was taken,” Aggarwal claimed.
