Failed Promises

  • Maninder Dabas / FG
  • India
  • May 25, 2012

 

 

Gurgaon has hundreds of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), and most of them are at loggerheads with their respective builders. Be it HUDA sectors or any private builder sectors, the residents are not satisfied with the quality of services being provided by their respective builders/service providers.  Hence, one now often witnesses demonstrations, agitations, and dharnas at one place or the other in the City. 

Unitech’s Uniworld Garden also has an RWA, and it too doesn’t get perfect services – but dharnas and agitations are not their way of working. “We don’t believe in dharnas or any other kind of demonstration or muscle show. We believe in negotiation; and if we can’t get our work done by negotiating with the service provider—who is Unitech in our case—we move to the Court, to settle the matter in a more civilised and lawful way,” said Sarvadaman Oberoi, the Joint Secretary, Uniworld Garden RWA.  

“I have been living here for three and half years, and I don’t think our problems are different from the rest of the City. Like them, here too the builder has failed to keep its promises, made at the time of selling the apartments. At Uniworld, we face 3 key challenges – electricity shortage, unavailability of  piped water, and the sub-standard quality of apartments,” says Sanjay Dua, the Vice President. “Here we have eight towers, and the electricity demand is quite high; but Unitech has not been able to provide us the required load. Hence, five out of eight towers always remain on gensets. Unitech was supposed to establish a 66 KVA sub-station in South City-II, in order to mitigate the electricity scarcity of its residents. However, despite establishing it, they have not been able to make it functional. People ask us why and how we are different from the rest of the RWAs of the City. Here is the reason: we don’t pay for the diesel being used in the gensets, whereas the  rest of the City does. And the reason is that Unitech, before handing over the possession of apartments in 2007, promised a full electricity connection, which they haven’t been able to provide till now,” says Oberoi. So Unitech bears the diesel cost instead. 

Sub-standard construction is another issue the residents here are weary of. Sanjay Dua states, “These apartments look so good from the main Sohna road. However, all eight towers have some big architectural flaws; and the biggest problem here is the seepage of water from the basement walls. The Unitech people have tried to stop it, but they are unable to provide a permanent solution. All the residents are tired of it,” he adds. However, a positive point is that Uniworld Garden has a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) plant inside the premises, which is a great relief (STP doesn’t let the sewage lines get choked).

“Unitech has often asked us to take over the maintenance, but we have refused to take over these half-baked  apartments. We don’t have a fully functional electricity connection, and ground water is still drawn from a tube-well. The buildings too are not in good shape. Unitech just wants to shed its burden, by handling over the maintenance. Why would we now spend for the things that we were promised at the time of purchase? According to the Apartments Act, the builder can’t sell the Common Areas and the parking; but Unitech has sold it. That is another reason why we are at loggerheads with them,” adds Dua. Finally, there is the regular security issue. “High security is the bedrock of any private apartment housing, and is one of the main reasons why people buy flats instead of plotted houses. At Uniworld the security is pathetic, and Unitech hardly seems to be bothered about it. We always remain worried  for our family and belongings, when we are at the office. Unitech often changes security agencies even without consulting the RWA,” signs off Dua. 

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