Ghaziabad Development Authority to Propose Compulsory Structural Audits for High-Rise Buildings

                Ghaziabad: As the first board meeting of 
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) this 
year draws near, it is deliberating on the 
agenda that will be taken up in the meeting 
scheduled 
for Jan 27, with "a compulsory structural audit 
proposal" topping it.
Prior to this, a meeting was called by the 
Meerut divisional commissioner on Thursday 
to discuss the agenda. Sources in the GDA 
said that a compulsory structural audit 
proposal will 
be placed before the board.
A GDA official said, "According to the proposal, 
a structural audit of multi-storey buildings will 
be made mandatory every three years. It will be 
the responsibility of the developer to 
ensure the structural audit and in case 
maintenance is transferred to the apartment 
owners' association (AOA), the responsibility 
will be with them. The proposal has listed IITs, 
NITs 
and equivalent institutes to carry out the 
structural audit."
The Housing Board earlier adopted the UP 
govt's structural audit policy, which was 
implemented.
"After the proposal is passed in the board, the 
GDA will also adopt the policy, which will go a 
long way in ensuring the structural safety of 
buildings and also fixing accountability on the 
maintenance body," the official said.
The structural audit policy is based on two 
major defects of construction, which will be 
classified under major and minor defects. 
"Under major defects, cracks in the foundation 
of the 
building or cracks in walls or floors will be 
considered, while under minor defects, peeling 
off plasters, etc., will be considered. If in the 
structural audit the fault is major in nature, the 
maintenance agency will have to get it rectified 
within six months, and the work has to 
commence within one month. If the defect is 
minor in nature, it has to be rectified within six 
months, and the cost will have to be borne by 
the maintenance agency," the official said.
Ashish Kumar of Supertech Icon Society in 
Indirapuram said, "There have been instances 
when the structure of a building weakened, 
resulting in the peeling of plasters and cave-ins 
of ceilings, causing injuries. The developers, on 
their part, absolves themselves of any such 
incidents once the handover is made, and 
RWAs or AOA many times dither in getting 
such 
structural defects rectified because of cost 
involvement."
"On a major level, I am not aware of a robust 
mechanism to deal with structural issues of a 
building, but a proposal of this nature with 
such salient features, where accountability is 
fixed and rectification will have to be done 
within a stipulated time, will serve the purpose," 
Kumar said.
The fact that Delhi-NCR comes under seismic 
zone-4 makes such structurally deficient 
buildings prone to earthquakes, so a 
compulsory structural audit of a building on a 
regular basis 
is very important, he said.

Source : Times of India