Gurugram Collapse: When Citizens Pay for India’s Shoddy Construction Practices

Cost-cutting, negligence and poor implementation in the construction sector continue to claim lives each year.

Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) had reached the site late on Thursday to conduct the rescue operation.

(Photo: PTI)

The collapse of six floors in a high-end residential complex in Gurugram has sent shock waves across the capital and surrounding areas. As buildings go higher with dense urban development, there is no proper system in place to check the quality of construction.

In recent years, as urban areas have been rapidly expanding, more and more high-rise buildings are being built based on sophisticated structural design systems, specifying the use of superior-quality construction material. Such construction calls for close checking of design calculations and careful implementation to ensure that the material and details as specified by the structural engineer are strictly followed. Unfortunately, the current process of implementation has serious shortcomings.

Cheap Material Rebranded as High-Grade

One of the most common problems emanates from the inability of the site staff and building foremen to correctly read and implement the structural engineer’s drawings and specifications. All high-rise buildings call for the use of high-grade steel with superior strength, for which there are only a few manufacturers in the country. To save on cost, most builders use cheaper steel imported from China, rebranded locally as high-grade.

The concrete also needs to have a certain minimum strength. The strength of concrete is affected by numerous factors like water content, atmospheric temperature, lack of proper curing, etc. Although sample cubes of each batch of concrete are saved and tested for strength after seven days and 28 days, by this time, the concrete has already been cast. If the tests show that the concrete needs to be retrofitted and strengthening needs to be done, the builder’s site team tend to ignore such deficiencies. This can sometimes become serious.

The Construction Sector Lacks Skilled Personnel

All builders want to save on the cost of construction and tend to put pressure on the structural engineer to reduce the amount of steel and concrete in the design of the structure. Often, a clause is inserted in the structural engineer’s contract specifying the maximum amount of steel and concrete per square foot that the structure may be designed for. This results in the structural engineer having to reduce the margin of safety, which when coupled with shortcomings in implementation, results in the collapse of the structure.

No system has been established to train adequate manpower for different skills related to the construction sector. The number of people trained by ITI’s (industrial training institutes) is marginal in relation to need. The government needs to introduce an extensive programme for the training of construction manpower in all parts of the country.

Most builders do not hire adequate trained foremen, to check and oversee the work, due to which many implementation errors are overlooked. At present, both large and small contractors take no responsibility for the proper security, health, and welfare needs, of the workers that they employ. Contractors often make temporary settlements at the building site itself, as was done at the Central Vista site. Photographs in the media highlighted the dismal temporary conditions with a complete lack of hygiene in which project workers were housed.

Monitoring Is Absent in India

A system of project management for proper monitoring and control of project implementation is completely absent in most construction projects. With a system of recording fortnightly or monthly progress reports, it is possible to keep a close watch on implementation, and the proper use of material and manpower. Although this is extensively ensured in the construction industry in most parts of the world, it is noticeably absent in India.

Apart from giving sanction and completion certificates, the authorities concerned play no real part in the implementation of construction projects. There is no system in place for them to check the quality of construction to ensure that development is being implemented in accordance with the sanctioned plans.

Apart from checking conformity with building bye-laws and reading the structural engineer’s certificates, they do not have the necessary capabilities to check whether the building as designed will be structurally safe. This relates to the large numbers of simple four-storey structures on 80 sq metre sites that have collapsed, as well as the latest sophisticated multi-storey buildings.

Look Beyond Permissions and Completion Certificates

In recent months, collapses have occurred in several housing projects in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida, and many lives have been lost. Despite residents having complained of the poor quality of construction, the complaints have been ignored. Delay in the delivery of flats is common, often extending from two to five years.

Tragedies have occurred in projects being implemented by small-scale builders, large development firms, as well as government agencies like the the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), state PWDs, as well as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).

Currently, a lot of attention has been focused on the collapse of six floors in a twelve-storey apartment block at the Chintels Paradiso complex in Gurgaon, where two residents also died. The Department of Town and Country Planning has sprung into action, and even the Chief Minister has now called for the registration of FIRs against the structural engineer, the architect, and the contractor.

The authorities concerned have sought to absolve themselves of all responsibility, stating that since a certificate and structural audit report from IIT engineers had been submitted, it was accepted that the construction had been carried out under proper supervision and as per the specifications in the National Building Code.

However, with the collapse that has occurred, all these submissions are now considered to be fraudulent. As can be seen, the authorities concerned believe that apart from issuing building permissions and completion certificates after inspecting relevant documents, they are in no way responsible for the quality of construction and structural failures that may occur.

India's Construction Sector Doesn't Figure in National Plans

It is only when serious structural failures happen or a portion of a building collapses that authorities wake up to the reality of poor implementation of construction.

The DTCP team of Gurgaon on 5 February inspected the multi-storey apartments at NBCC Greens. This is a project spread across 18 acres, where the possession of flats promised for 2015 was given in August 2017.

Soon after occupation, cracks began to appear in several buildings. Apart from poor workmanship, several other deficiencies were noticed, which included the installation of an electric sub-station in the basement where the water kept flooding, a defunct fire-fighting system, and non-functional STPs, resulting in the discharge of sewage.

These issues reflect serious shortcomings in terms of design and implementation. Residents filed complaints with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), following which chargesheets were issued to three director-level officers. Residents were asked to vacate the buildings so that repairs may be carried out.

The NBCC is a government organisation that has been entrusted with thousands of crores worth of government projects. For each project, they levy a 15% service charge, which is adequate to obtain proper professional design input. One would, therefore, expect a high quality of construction with proper checks on time and cost control by qualified and experienced architects, structural engineers, services consultants, and supervisory staff. But the NBCC, like other government organisations, is understaffed and lacks professional expertise.

Though the construction industry provides employment to a large number of people, the industry does not figure in national development plans. The importance of the construction sector needs to be recognised and planned for.

(Ranjit Sabikhi is the Principal, Ranjit Sabikhi Architects. He was the Head of the Department of Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi in the 1970s, has written extensively on India's urban condition, and has been designing buildings for close to sixty years. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)