Two years on, Signature View remains a daily hazard for its helpless residents

Built by DDA, the society was launched in 2007, and possession of flats started in 2012. Soon, the buildings began showing signs of decay within months of occupation, according to residents

Standing beneath a 12-storey residential tower in north Delhi, one might mistake it for a structure built five or six decades ago. The electricity meter room in the stilt parking area is crumbling, with large chunks of paint and plaster flaking off regularly. Even more alarming is the visible gap between the wall and the roof, allowing a clear streak of daylight to shine through.

A damaged section of a building of Signature View Apartments at Mukherjee Nagar in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The tower appears to be held up by little more than hope.

This is the grim reality of life at Signature View Apartments — a residential complex in Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi.

Built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over 2.16 acres, the society was launched in 2007, and possession of flats started in 2012. The complex has 12 towers of 12 and six floors, with a total of 336 flats.

Launched in 2007, with possessions starting in 2012, the buildings began showing signs of decay within months of occupation, according to residents.

All 12 towers in the society were declared unfit for habitation when the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi conducted a structural audit in December 2022. But the Delhi high court in July this year ordered a stay on the demolition of these buildings — the residents continue to live in limbo.

“We are at our wit’s end. It’s only a matter of time before something catastrophic happens. The situation worsens daily, but authorities remain unresponsive. Just yesterday [December 18], we got a DDA team to inspect one of the pillars in a tower that had become completely exposed to the elements... but only said they’d inform their seniors,” said Gaurav Pandey, the general secretary of the society’s residents’ welfare association (RWA).

Buildings declared uninhabitable

Parts of Signature View Apartments began showing signs of damage as early as in 2012, the same year that residents moved in. While initial requests made to DDA for repair work were acted upon promptly, residents’ complaints started growing exponentially.

In December 2022, the IIT-Delhi audit report stated that the 12 buildings in the society were “uninhabitable”, and recommending their demolition, as repairs were deemed futile.

The audit also recommended that the towers be evacuated and dismantled.

On the basis of the report, in January 2023, Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena ordered the demolition of the towers.

Following detailed discussions between residents and DDA, the authority offered two options to flat owners — they could either opt for a “buyback”, which means that they could hand over the flat for a certain amount akin to its market value; or they could go in for reconstruction, wherein DDA would dismantle and reconstruct the building, and would pay rent to the flat owners ( ₹50,000 per month for HIG flats, ₹38,000 per month for MIG flats) for three years.

However, some residents moved the high court, which stayed any coercive action till the hearing is on, and the final order has been pending since August 12 this year.

The present situation

On Thursday, HT did a spot check of the residential complex, and on the ground floor wall of a 12-storey building, found a crack wide enough for a person’s fist to go through.

The external walls of nearly all the towers appear as if they are shedding concrete, while exposed rebars have become as thin as straws due to corrosion — they are also brittle and broken at multiple points.

Over the past couple of years, around 150 families moved out of the society. Last week, the RWA president moved out, and Pandey is now the last remaining member of the association still living in the society.

RWA vice-president Shweta Verma, who moved out over a year ago, said, “When we shifted, we planned our expenses assuming that the entire matter will be resolved in about six months, and DDA will start paying rent. But it is a huge financial burden now as we are paying rent for the flat where we live, apart from EMIs for this flat. We can’t even move back as it is very unsafe.”

Some people who moved out have even offered their flats up for rent, but the going rate is less than half the market price. The society has also placed a board near their main entry gate informing people that any tenant or owner who moves in should do so at their own risk, as the structure has been declared unsafe.

DDA officials did not comment on the issue, saying the matter is sub judice.

However, the remaining residents say that they are not sure how this wait will end.

“When the court cases started, we were getting dates almost every week. It seemed like everyone understood the urgency of the situation. But now we are again sitting ducks, waiting for an accident to happen,” said Amrendra Jha, another resident of the society.

“It is a matter of time. We don’t know if the judgement will come first or an accident here,” said Pandey.