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Tests find Ahmedabad builders guilty of flouting norms Friday, April 20, 2001

Ahmedabad: A National Council of Cement and Building Material (NCCBM) report on the quality of building materials has blamed builders-developers of Ahmedabad for the collapse of 60-odd multistoried residential apartment blocks in the January 26 earthquake, killing nearly 800 people.

The earthquake claimed nearly 25,000 lives and left tens of thousands of people homeless and penniless.

The report was submitted to the city police that had commissioned the NCCBM to carry out tests on samples of the 60-odd buildings to fix responsibility. The police had sought answers to 80 questions, 20 each on vertical columns, the horizontal beams and concrete slabs, and 10 each on mortar and cluster of rods used.

The NCCBM report has confirmed that the building materials used in Shikhar Tower and Mansi complex were sub-standard and the buildings collapsed because of the builders' negligence.

In the Mansi complex case, the report said that the clear cover to the main reinforcement of vertical column was 30 to 35 mm whereas it should have been 35 to 65 mm, according to the National Building Code (NBC).

The NCCBM also found the concrete to be of poor quality and the spacing of the stirrups more than that specified in the NBC. According to the report, the strength of the concrete in slabs and columns was less than M-10 grade while it should have been at least M-15. Even the cement content in the concrete was lower than required.

In the Shikhar Tower case, too, the NCCBM found the norms flouted in each of the five aspects. Concrete was weaker than established NBC norms and reinforced steel was rusted at several places. Worse, the apartment was carrying vertical load in excess. This led to additional pressure on the horizontal beams that were weak and gave way when the earth rumbled.

Police have requested the NCCBM to submit another report in simpler language as the one already submitted uses technical jargon that police would find hard to interpret while carrying out further investigations.

Meanwhile, the builder-developers of at least 17 buildings that collapsed are still on the run.

Police have registered a total of 60 cases against builder-developers of the 60-odd multistoried apartment blocks. Most of the builders went into hiding after complaints were lodged against them.

"We have been able to nab 76 builders-developers in 43 cases and charge several of them. The three builders against whom warrants under PASA (Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act) were issued have been arrested. Others will be caught in due course," said a police spokesman.

However, after waiting for more than two months for the police to arrest all the accused, residents of some of the buildings that collapsed allege that the police are not arresting the builders because of political pressure.

The Vardayini apartment block residents are up in arms against police "inaction". "The police are not arresting the builder-developer as he has political connections," said Dipak Sheth, a flat owner.

Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pandey, however, denies there is any political interference in his work. "The police have been going about its business and they have booked the guilty. The police have charged two more builders and three town development officers Monday," he said.

He pointed out that the city police had got the NCCBM to carry out the scientific tests on the collapsed building debris to fix the responsibility despite the state government insisting on assigning the job to the government-run Gujarat Engineering Research Institute.

 

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