The residents of an upscale condominium — The World Spa at Sector 30 — on Wednesday took to the streets to protest against alleged irregularities in the construction of flats and the lack of promised amenities by developer Unitech.
More than 150 residents — most of them corporate
honchos, retired senior bureaucrats and well-known personalities — gathered in front of the maintenance office of the developer in the city and shouted slogans.
According to the protesters, at the time of booking in 2004, the developer had promised to complete the construction of a portion of the project in 27 months. As a result, even after six years, many buyers could not take possession of their property. “The developer had promised apartments would be delivered in 2006,” said a buyer.
Gautam Gulati, the president of The World Spa Apartments Owners’ Association (TWSAOW), alleged that the developer had to return the maintenance security deposit to the residents on the formation of association and handover its operations to them, but this was never done.
“On August 3, the developer had promised that they would handover the maintenance job by December 1 last year to us. But they are yet to keep their word,” he said. “Unitech has been diverting security deposits to fund other projects without fulfiling its commitments towards World Spa,” said Lt. Gen. (retd) SK Bahri, a resident.
While Rakesh Gupta, a former Asian Development Bank director, talked about seepage in the parking lot, women residents complained about kitchen slabs coming off and leaking pipes.
“Why don’t they let us takeover the maintenance? We can do it better,” said Shalini Kochar. The residents also questioned the quality of materials used in the construction of the expensive apartments.
According to them, the developer had allegedly given the possession of flats to some buyers without valid occupancy certificate, issued by the Town and Country Planning Department, which validates that the flats are fit for living.
More than 60 families have been living in World Spa without the occupancy certificate, they said.
The developer denied the allegations and said “vested interests were sensationalising the issue”.
“We would like to retain the project development and maintenance for some more time to further take care of the investment value of our customers,” a spokesperson said.