BIS drops seismic zonation plan due to rising construction costs
Representative AI image NEW DELHI: Three months after the Centre declared a new seismic zonation for India that classified Zone 6 as the highest risk, primarily covering the Himalayan arc and designating almost 60% of the country in moderate to high-risk zones— the 2024 iteration of IS 1893, introducing stricter construction safety standards, has now been revoked. In a notable regulatory change, the previous standard, IS 1893 of 2016, is reinstated. A gazette notification dated March 3 from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) confirmed that the earlier notification from November 6, 2025, regarding the updated IS 1893 of 2025,…