Noida lift mishap: Residents raise safety concerns, reiterate demand of Lift and Elevators Act

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The incident of the cables of a lift failing at a high-rise society in Noida’s Sector 137, causing the death of an elderly woman, has once again raised concerns about lack of proper maintenance and operational audits of lifts in condominiums in the region. The mishap has revitalised the residents’ demand for legislation to oversee installation of lifts and to fix the responsibility of maintenance and also ensure safety of residents of high-rises.

Apartment owners associations (AOAs) in the region have long been demanding such a law in the state. Following the August 3 incident, the umbrella bodies of AOAs in Greater Noida and Noida, the Delhi satellite towns in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, have decided to write to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and demand the implementation of the UP Lift Act, which has been drafted but not yet passed.

According to officials, currently there is no law to govern the installation and maintenance of lifts in high-rises. In the absence of such an act, builders many a time install substandard lifts that lack automatic braking and rescue device systems, and also do not service lifts regularly. Since no accountability is fixed, the monitoring is also compromised, be it by the builder or by AOAs, officials said.

Lift malfunction incidents

In the latest instance, the cable of a lift snapped, leading to a free fall. The mishap took place in Paras Tiera society in Sector 137 in Noida on the evening on August 3. Police said the victim was immediately rushed to a local hospital, where she was declared dead by doctors.

Moneycontrol reached out to the developer of Paras Tiera society and also to the AOA of the society but there was no response.

This is not the first instance of a lift collapsing in Gautam Buddh Nagar. In January this year, an engineer was killed after a lift fell from the 25th floor at a construction site of a high-rise society.

Similarly, in July 2022, an elderly woman got injured after a lift in her building in Supertech Supernova society allegedly malfunctioned went into free-fall from the 34th floor to the 17th.

Demand for an Act for lifts

Rajiva Singh, president of the Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA), said that Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad house the majority of high-rise structures and hence there is an urgent need for a lifts act so that regular audits can happen and lives can be safeguarded and injuries prevented.

“Accountability needs to be set with proper governing laws for elevators. High-rise societies face lift mishaps due to poor quality lifts installed by developers. Over 12 states in the country such as Maharashtra already have lift and elevator regulation act but the UP Lift Act is long awaited. In the interim, any state’s act can be implemented for Uttar Pradesh and amendments can be made later as per requirements,” Singh told Moneycontrol.

He said that AOAs met the UP CM in July 2023 and raised the demand of an act for lifts and elevators. We will again write to him on the issue, Singh said.

Abhishek Kumar, president, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association, said that residents have been demanding an act for lifts and elevators but to no avail.

“We will be writing to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the issue and further reiterate our demand of implementing the UP Lifts and Elevators Act. The act will help authorities in governing the installation, operation and maintenance of elevators in condominiums. It will also fix responsibility in case of any mishap,” he said.

Rahul Rastogi, a resident of a high-rise society in Sidhartha Vihar in Ghaziabad, also voiced similar concerns and said that once the act is implemented, the local authority can use it to fix responsibility and take appropriate action in case of a lift failure. “In the absence of an act, builders install poor quality lifts or dilute the AMC (annual maintenance contract) terms and conditions in connivance with the company and officials,” Rastogi claimed.

Officials in Noida Authority said that a draft of the Lifts and Elevators Act was prepared and sent to the government for approval in 2018 but there had been no progress since then. They also said that officials conduct regular checks during time of construction to ensure good quality lifts are installed in the building.

Maintenance challenges

NOFAA president Singh further said that AOAs face several challenges in maintenance of elevators such as funds crunch and hefty maintenance charges by companies, among others, which force some AOAs to go for local vendor contracts which at times become dangerous and also invalidates the warranty and insurance provided by the original supplier.

He stressed that blaming AOAs and residents’ welfare associations is not a solution as they are often unnecessarily made “scapegoats”. The accountability has to be with the builders and manufacturers of these lifts and also the agencies providing AMCs, he added.