SRA extends defect liability period to ten years following Goregaon fire incident

SRA extends defect liability period to 10 years after Goregaon fire incident. Builders concerned about maintenance responsibility. Fire audit ordered for older SRA buildings.

Mumbai: The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has increased the defect liability period for buildings constructed under the SRA scheme from three years to ten years. The order, issued on February 21, is a response to the fire incident in a SRA building in Goregaon in October 2023, where seven people lost their lives, and 62 were injured.

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SRA chief executive officer Satish Lokhande said, “Soon after the massive fire in an SRA building at Goregaon, a committee was appointed to look into the fire. We are making the amendment after the recommendation of this committee.”

However, many builders are upset with the amendment as it means they will now be responsible for managing the buildings for a decade. Lokhande said, “The builder does not have to worry if he has done good quality work, but if the quality of work is poor, the builder has cause to worry.”

The Goregaon incident involved a ground-plus-seven-storeyed building, Jai Bhavani, in Unnat Nagar, which was built on slum land between 2006-2007, after which the former slum residents were rehabilitated here. According to authorities of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire erupted between 2 and 3am, in one of the ground floor shops which had stacks of old clothes. The fire then spread across the parking lot where rags, plywood, and other inflammable materials were stored; it entered the meter cabin and thereon, spread to the first floor. Soon all the other floors were filled with thick smoke.

The 16-year-old building had no fire extinguishers. This incident prompted chief minister Eknath Shinde to order a fire audit of all SRA buildings, especially those constructed before 2006, not covered by the Maharashtra Fire Services Act, 2006.

The CM Eknath Shinde took serious note of this and announced an investigation committee. They had made many recommendations and one of them was builder should maintain the rehabilitation component of the SRA project for ten years instead of three years.

Additionally, the SRA chief has recommended installing iron staircases in 227 older buildings constructed earlier, in addition to the existing staircases and lifts.