Shoddy construction mars Maya’s housing scheme for urban poor

“The quality of bricks was not good. The mixture of cement and sand was also not up to the prescribed level.

I have informed the senior officers in the government regarding the use of sub-standard material and also ordered the daily sampling of the construction material by a private company in order to ensure the quality,” Singh told The Indian Express.

A Delhi-based company has been given the task of conducting sampling of construction material.

The ADA has also released Rs 4 lakh for the sampling work and asked the firm to begin work from Monday.

Coming down heavily on the officers and the contractors,Singh warned them of immediate action for “deliberate” lapses in the construction of the houses.

He said that contractors’ payments would be stopped if any irregularities were found during inspection.

“The use of sand and cement mixture found at the site was 6:1 whereas it should have been 4:1. Moreover,low quality bricks were used,” sources said.

The estimated cost of each house,consisting of one bedroom set,is Rs 1.75 lakh.

The vice-chairman said that the ADA will not be able to meet the July 15 deadline of the project and it would take two more months to complete it.

The construction of 800 houses will be completed by August 15,followed by 700 houses in September,he said.