Building collapse: Gurugram administration to set up own structural audit team

Rescue workers search for survivors in the debris after a five-story building collapsed in Mahad in Raigad. (Image: Reuters)

With 60 housing societies in Gurugram seeking safety audit, officials on Thursday said the district administration has decided to set up its own structural audit team to speed up the process.

The decision was taken after Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav held a special meeting with 12 structural auditing firms, the officials said.

They said that the team will be constituted in the next 10 days. “As many as 60 societies want structural audit and it’s not feasible to get every society checked by the IITs. So, we have decided to form our own expert team to finish the work as soon as possible,” said Yadav.

According to sources, slow pace of investigation in Chintels Paradiso collapse by IIT Delhi and non-initiation of audit of five societies by IIT Roorkee has led to the decision. According to the plan, the team will have technical experts who will first categorise societies on the basis of severity of degradation or damage.

The cost of the audit will be borne by builders and the RWA of the society will be taken in loop. The report will be uploaded online to maintain transparency, the officials said.