Kochi: A team of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is likely to inspect the Chanderkunj Army Towers at Silversand Island, Vyttila on Wednesday as part of conducting a structural audit of two towers in the residential complex which are in distress.
The residents of the B and C towers, which have been crumbling due to poor construction quality, were intimated about the IISc visit by the Residents' Association at short notice, triggering another round of dispute among the stakeholders involved.
Col. (retd) Ciby George, a flat owner who has been waging a legal battle against the AWHO over the issue, said the residents were informed about the IISc visit in an email around 10 pm on Tuesday only.
The structural audit by the IISc was ordered by the Kerala High Court on June 19 based on a petition challenging the Army Welfare Housing Association's (AWHO) plan to retrofit the buildings, ignoring the serious concerns raised by a section of flat owners.
Col. George has flagged the late intimation by the residents' association president, saying it is part of a plan to deny the residents the opportunity to interact with the expert team during the site visit.
He told Onmanorama that the AWHO and the residents' association heads have been adopting the same strategy during earlier vist by other expert teams also. He said it would be irrational to believe that a premier institute like IISc would plan a crucial site visit at the last minute. "The last-minute intimation by the association president can only be seen as part of a ploy to deny the owners, including those who work and stay away, the rightful opportunity to interact with the team. It would not be possible for even those who stay in the flats to interact with the team because of their engagements fixed earlier," he said. He said he had conveyed the grievance to the IISc in an email. He said the move to keep the building owners away from the expert team was against the high court order.
The court chose the Bengaluru Institute to conduct the structural audit as its Department of Civil Engineering figured as a common choice of the petitioner, the AWHO project director and the residents association.
The court has asked the IISc to offer its views on the expert report filed by the Bureau Veritas (BV) India Pvt. Ltd, the private agency engaged by AWHO to study the condition of the two towers. The AWHO has prepared the retrofitting plan based on the BV study.
