Although quality check reports are not available, a structural engineer is expected to certify that the building is safe before an occupancy certificate is issued.
Are there at all ways in which a buyer could ensure that the building he wishes to buy is constructed with standard material?
“As far as I know, there is no way of checking the materials used. In fact, checking the materials is getting into too much specificity,” said HB Mukunda, director of state government’s Town and Country Planning department.
Although quality check reports are not available, a structural engineer is expected to certify that the building is safe before an occupancy certificate is issued. “There is no recognised agency that is equipped to check whether good quality material is used during the construction,” said Mukunda.
“There is a lot of building activity happening in the city, and the shortage of sand is forcing builders to opt for filter sand. This is also cheaper,” said Suresh Hari, governing body member of the Karnataka Ownership Apartments Promoters’ Association (KOAPA).
As the BBMP takes cognisance of the large numbers of complaints about shoddy construction material in use in public buildings, there are also concerns that the quality of material used by private builders might be of dubious quality.
“A buyer must have a certain amount of trust and confidence in the builder. That is why those builders with an established reputation are so much more sought-after than the small-time builders,” explained K Sridhar, president of the Bangalore chapter of the Builders’ Association of India.
Although the acute shortage of sand has set off the malpractice of using filter sand in construction, the government has done little to prevent the use of poor quality sand in construction, said Sridhar.
“Unless sand mining areas are identified, and the use of filter sand clamped down upon, the practice is bound to continue,” Sridhar said.
“The use of poor quality sand could affect the reinforcements used in concrete works, and the whole structure might develop cracks. The compressive strength of material is much reduced,” explained B Babu Rao, proprietor, Bharat Construction Company. So are there standard practices followed elsewhere in the world that could be followed here? “The problems here are not universal,” said Babu Rao.
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