Raze the weakest towers for now, say Delhi’s Signature View residents

A senior DDA official said that the body has asked the residents to submit their proposal to vacate the weaker towers

The resident welfare association (RWA) of Signature View Apartment (SVA) in northwest Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar met officials from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Saturday and asked for at least two towers that are structurally the weakest to be immediately dismantled and that the body begin paying rent to the residents of those towers.

According to an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) report from last year, the society with 12 towers was found to be structurally weak. (HT Photo)

A senior DDA official, requesting anonymity, said that the body has asked the residents to submit their proposal to vacate the weaker towers and the authority will try to decide at the earliest.

“We have been asking all residents to vacate the premises at the earliest as it is unsafe to continue to live there. We can start rent from tomorrow if all residents vacate today, but if some residents don’t shift out, it defeats our purpose of quickly dismantling and reconstructing the building,” said the official.

According to an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) report from last year, the society with 12 towers was found to be structurally weak, following which lieutenant governor VK Saxena ordered that it be immediately vacated and dismantled. DDA had earlier given time till November 30 for all residents to evacuate the society. However, this was put on hold after a group of nine residents approached the Delhi high court which asked DDA to halt the evacuation till the next date of hearing in February.

The above quoted official said that DDA will file its reply to the high court within a week and will also try to make the RWA and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi a party in the matter as all decisions related to rent were taken in joint meetings with the RWA and were agreed upon.

RWA members said that during the meeting, DDA said no decision has been taken regarding paying rent for people who have either vacated or have consented to leave the premises. According to the agreement offered by DDA, it would start paying the rent only after all 336 families in the society would vacate the premises. However, RWA had asked that the land-owning agency should begin paying their rents even if 70% of the families agreed to move out.

“We have informed DDA categorically that the condition of the blocks is rapidly deteriorating, and an accident can happen anytime. About 210 flats have submitted consent for reconstruction on DDA’s terms, of which around 100 families have already vacated. Many more families are in touch with us and will vacate immediately if DDA starts rent,” said Gaurav Pandey, secretary of SVA RWA. Pandey added that RWA also brought to the notice of DDA officers the rundown condition of blocks D, E, I and L, which are nearly dilapidated as per the IIT Delhi report, and were recommended for immediate evacuation and dismantling.

“We have informed DDA that all flat owners of towers D and E have given consent to evacuate and shift if DDA starts rent as they are really scared that these two towers can fall any time. Officers have asked RWA to give them this request in a letter and said that they will explore if these blocks can be demolished independently. They will respond within a week,” said Pandey.

Following complaints from residents since 2013, a structural audit of the society was conducted by IIT Delhi which submitted its report in November last year. The report added that towers A, B and C appeared visually in a better condition, while towers D to L suffered from a significant amount of corrosion of reinforcement, making these towers not safe for habitation.

“A repair of these structures for safe usage is unlikely to be technically and economically feasible. Towers D to L must be vacated as soon as possible due to the extensive deterioration that has already occurred in these towers and must be dismantled as soon as possible to prevent any loss of life. Towers D, E, I and L appear to be especially at high risk due to which they must be vacated immediately,” said the report.