Even five years after hundreds of buyers had booked their dream homes in the Ridge Residency project of Today Homes Group, possession of not a single flat has been given by the builder till date. To add to the agony of the flat owners, the builder has steadfastly kept mum on paying the penalty amount and even a written complaint to the Noida Authority has elicited no response.
The agitated buyers told media persons in a press conference held on Saturday that they are mulling legal action against the builder, alleging that despite several promises made by the representatives of Today Homes regarding delivery of flats, deadlines have been constantly missed. To top it all, even the construction work at the project site has stopped, mainly due to non-payment of dues to the contractors by the builder, they alleged.
The project, which is located at Noida Sector-135, had started in 2009 and some of the buyers had booked flats in it during the same year. Yet till date not a single flat has been allotted, even as the number of flats went up from 1,300 to 1,700, the flat owners alleged. After taking into account the 30-months plus four months grace period time frame given in the builder-buyer agreement for delivering the units, people who booked their flats in late 2009 and should have got possession by mid-2012, are yet to see completion of their flats.
There are 18 towers in the Ridge Residency project with approximately 1,700 flats ranging from two to four bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) units. The buyers alleged that the builder has been repeatedly making false promises of delivering towers B and C, which are almost 90 per cent ready. "We have monthly meetings with the customer relations management (CRM) team of the builder, who since February have been promising to give us possession of towers B and C. However till date, not a single flat has been allotted to anybody," said lokesh Sharma, a buyer who has a flat in tower B. The fate of the remaining towers can only be imagined, he added.
He alleged that construction work in the entire project since the past few months has been moving at snail's pace and in fact over the past few weeks has come to a standstill.
Incidentally when this correspondent visited the site on Saturday, there was no sign of any construction activity going on. Towers B and C have been given a coat of paint and even elevators have been installed, yet a lot of work is left to be completed. The situation is that even if the buyers do get the possession of the flats in these towers, the condition is not fit enough for them to move in with their families as basic amenities like water and power as well as parking space, are not available.
"We have on several occasions tried meeting the Managing Director of Today Homes G K Gambhir, but to not avail. Since the past two years we have been having monthly meetings with the CRM team of the builder, where we question them about reasons behind delays in handing over of flats, but we don't get any clear replies. When we ask about payment of penalty amount, they simply don't have an answer," Sharma told media persons.
On September 25, the buyers had filed an online complaint to the Noida Authority bringing to its notice the "huge delay in handing over possession and non-compliance of statutory requirement as mandated under the law", however it elicited no response.
Earlier in August this year, one of the buyers had filed an RTI to Noida Authority seeking to know various aspects about the project like the approved floor plans, and the total number of floors approved by it. Also the RTI application had sought to know the timelines submitted by Today Homes for completing the entire project.
Noida Authority however responded to the RTI application by saying that the aforementioned information was 'third party information' and all the details sought are available on the builder's website.
When contacted, the CRM head of Today Homes Kamal Kishore told The Pioneer that there have been delays in the project owing to various reasons, but when asked to clearly specify the reasons, he simply said that just like projects of other developers have got delayed, their project too was facing issues like "non-availability of sand" among other things. He did not go into details on those "issues".
He claimed that occupation certificates (OCs) for giving possession for towers B, C, D and E had been applied for by Today Homes with Noida Authority in January this year. However as the authority has sought completion of all the four towers, the OCs are still awaited.
Kishore said that within two months, towers B and C will be complete and possessions of flats will start soon after this. He however steadfastly denied that construction work has been stopped at the site. When told that this reporter did not see any construction activity happening on Saturday, Kishore did not have a clear reply but invited media to come any other day and have a look.
He also denied any payment issues with the contractors of various towers and also the allegation that the contractors had locked up the flats owing to non-payment of their dues. "There are no such issues with contractors," he said.
On allegations of extra floors having been added in various towers, he said that everything has been done after prior approval and regarding penalty payment, Kishore said that these would be made as per terms of the builder-buyer agreement. He even denied alterations in room sizes as alleged by the buyers.