GMADA electrical dept raises issue of substandard work at IT City

GMADA electrical dept writes to civil engineering department; says RCC trench constructed at commercial pocket of Sector 83, Alpha, is of poor quality, not aligned with each other and constructed in a haphazard way

: The electrical department of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has raised the issue of poor quality work being carried out at the commercial site of the IT City, Sector 83, Alpha, where the authority is to lay underground electrical cables and other utilities in the under-construction reinforced cement concrete (RCC) trenches.

GMADA chief engineer says instructions have already been issued to officials to rectify defects at the RCC trenches in IT City.

In a letter to the civil engineering department of GMADA, the executive engineer of the electrical department said the RCC trench already constructed at the commercial pocket of Sector 83 Alpha by the civil contractual agency was of poor quality, not even aligned with each other, and constructed in a haphazard way. The agency failed to make any provision to drain out the rainwater in the RCC trenches, the letter stated.

The civil engineering department allotted the work to Gujarat-based Shiv Buildindia Private Limited in September last year at the cost of ₹15 crore and was supposed to complete it within eight months, but after the expiry of the completion period, the agency has completed around 40% of the work.

The letter further stated that the poor quality of the RCC trenches being constructed at the commercial pocket of Sector 83, Alpha, without proper alignment and no provision to drain our rainwater will defeat the purpose of proposing the RCC trenches in the commercial pockets of IT City. In the manner in which the present RCC trenches are being constructed, laying of cables in these trenches may not be possible as per codal provisions, the letter said.

There are seven commercial pockets in the township and the agency has not completed work in a single pocket.

A senior officer of the electrical department said with such construction, there are chances of accidents as water might accumulate in these RCC trenches and can cause fatal accidents at the time of operation and maintenance for the local distribution (LD) system.

The chief engineer of GMADA, Balwinder Singh said, “Instructions have already been given to the officials to rectify the defects at the RCC trenches and the agency has been directed to complete the work in a time-bound manner, failing which payments will be withheld.”

However, the supervisor of Shiv Buildindia Private Limited, Bhagat Singh said, “Our construction is as per the drawings and as far as the delay in work is concerned, we got the approval letter from GMADA in May this year that too after writing them around 15 letters.” The IT City is spread over 1,722 acres in Sector 66-B, 82-A, Sector 83-A, and 101-A adjoining the International Airport Road. The first housing scheme under the IT City was launched in February 2014, wherein 325 residential plots were allotted at ₹23,500 sq yd. The second scheme was launched in July 2016, wherein 750 plots were allotted at ₹20,000 per sq yd. The last scheme was launched in April 2018.