Chintels Paradiso tower residents allege lack of clarity over compensation
GURUGRAM: The district administration’s order to demolish Tower D of Chintels Paradiso where two women were killed in February when a sixth-floor apartment came down has sparked confusion among the allottees. On February 10, the dining room floor of a sixth-floor apartment of Tower D at Chintels Paradiso in Sector 109 came down, triggering the collapse of roofs and floors directly under it, till the first floor.
The incident had prompted the authorities to conduct a structural audit of several high-rise buildings in the city.
On Saturday, Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said an IIT-Delhi team had found structural deficiencies in the construction of the tower, whose repair is not possible on technical and economic grounds and ordered it to be demolished. The developer has also been instructed to settle the claims of allottees within 60 days.
Despite this direction, Tower-D allottees said the district administration had muddled the situation. They alleged that the structural audit report on the basis of which the demolition was ordered was not even shared with them.
They also claimed that the administration had hired the independent evaluator on its own without taking the residents into confidence.
A magisterial inquiry headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Vishram Kumar Meena has also upheld IIT-Delhi’s recommendation of not just demolishing Tower D but also vacating towers A, B, C, E, F, G, H and J till further investigation. The committee has recommended the immediate evacuation towers E and F for the safety of residents.
The residents said they had no idea when they would get the compensation and on what basis and demanded the cost of a similar replacement flat in the same location.
The district administration on Thursday said a meeting of Tower-D residents, developer and the evaluator had been called to settle the matter.
“We have called a meeting on Friday to comply with the order to settle the claims of Tower-D allottees within 60 days. We have given three options to the allottees — they can settle with the builder or take the amount of their flat as per the valuation or they can approach the courts. It all depends on their choice but everything will be settled within 60 days,” said Yadav, who is also the district magistrate.
The residents, however, said the administration made no effort to provide clarity on the situation.
“Everything we know we have learnt from media reports. As a flatowner, why have I not got the structural audit report yet? Why does the district administration not share the valuation report? We are very upset as there is a meeting tomorrow (Friday) and we had no information about it till the afternoon,” said Vikram Gambhir, resident of D-202.
Sonam, a resident of the society, said the residents of Tower D were not sure about the compensation.
“They are getting different news from the media but the authority has not clarified what they will get as compensation. The authority must clarify the settlement scheme.
“The residents had not invested money in the project but made a home here and they want similar homes,” she added.
Rakesh Hooda, president of the society’s residents’ welfare association, said the allottees were ready to settle but the developer or the authorities should meet their demands.
“They should either give us the replacement cost according to the current price in the area or provide new flats to us at the same site after demolition. We are shocked because things are not clear on any level. The authority did not share even the IIT-Delhi report,” Hooda said.