Surat: The committee formed by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to ascertain the structural stability of the Shiv Residency buildings in Bhimrad found the structures safe and declared that residents can occupy the buildings on Friday. The SMC also offered to pay for a third-party inspection if the residents wanted it. The residents are holding a meeting to discuss their options.“The committee found the structures safe and residents can return to their homes. SMC is also offering to pay for a third-party inspection if the residents want to get it done,” said Shalini Agarwal, municipal commissioner. “An inquiry into the incident will be conducted to find out how this happened.”The strengthening of one side of the foundation pit, in which the retention wall collapsed creating a threat to the adjoining Shiv Residency in Bhimrad, was completed by the developer and the SMC on Friday. “Over 1,500 trucks of soil were used to secure the site, lime treatment was done and it was covered with cement concrete. The geotechnical report by the committee formed to check the adjacent structures found them safe and suggested that they could be occupied by the residents,” said Manish Doctor, deputy municipal commissioner.Residents were complaining about the hazardous condition of Shiv Residency, in which two of the four evacuated towers are attached to two other towers that were not evacuated by the SMC. The civic body evacuated Towers A, E, F and G. “Tower A is attached to Tower B and G is attached to H. If anything happens to the A and G towers, it would cause severe damage to the B and H towers as well. SMC did not evacuate those towers,” a resident said. Large construction projects are underway on two sides of the Shiv Residency apartment complex.The compound wall and a portion of the parking area of Shiv Residency collapsed and caved into the 50-foot foundation pit of the Raj Lakshmi Vivaan project on Tuesday night. The collapse cause panic among residents and hundreds of them spent the winter night in the open. The four towers nearest to the damaged portion, which have 192 flats, were evacuated by SMC. Meanwhile, residents of the 192 flats in the other four towers were also afraid and left their apartments for safety reasons.
