G Noida: Discom cuts power supply to AVJ Heights, builder, buyers in standoff - Hindustan Times
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G Noida: Discom cuts power supply to AVJ Heights, builder, buyers in standoff

Hindustan Times | By, Greater Noida
Aug 18, 2017 10:54 AM IST

The standoff has left families stranded without electricity and has brought their daily lives to a halt. Barring a few, a majority of the residents are making do with candles and emergency lights.

A standoff between residents of AVJ Heights Society and its builders’ group over payment of electricity dues has resulted in Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) disconnecting the electricity supply from 6am on Thursday. A due of Rs2.31crore to be paid.

Around 1,200 families live in AVJ Heights at Zeta-1 Sector of Greater Noida.
Around 1,200 families live in AVJ Heights at Zeta-1 Sector of Greater Noida.

The standoff has left families stranded without electricity and has brought their daily lives to a halt. Barring a few, a majority of the residents are making do with candles and emergency lights.

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“A few families have bought an inverter in the last few days. The builders had promised us power backup and we were fooled. Now, we are forced to sit in the dark and wait for the standoff to finish,” said Jaswinder Singh, a resident.

Around 1,200 families live in AVJ Heights at Zeta-1 Sector of Greater Noida.

NPCL was supposed to receive this amount from the builders’ group as arrears for the last two years. However, a standoff between the residents and builders’ group management has resulted in an increase of arrears over months.

“We have been quite compassionate in our approach as we kept delaying the disconnection of supply because 1,200 families reside there. Every month, there was a bill of around Rs30 lakh but payment of only Rs 6-8 lakh was done. Every month, the arrears kept increasing. Now, NPCL will not provide any further supply unless all dues are cleared,” S Ganguly, general manager, NPCL, said.

The possession of flats was given in 2014, despite ongoing construction work, due to realty issues. NPCL has been providing them supply on a temporary basis for ‘construction’ purposes. “According to rules, we are supposed to provide only 200 kilowatts of electricity every month for construction-related need. Yet, we have been providing them 1,400 kilowatts every month,” added Ganguly.

Residents allege that the builders’ group has not been paying the electricity supply despite them clearing the dues every time. “The majority of us have a prepaid connection, wherein we pay a certain amount every month to avail of the electricity supply. They charge us Rs7 per unit and each household, on an average, pays Rs2,500 every month. For this month, we paid till August 5. Due to the mismanagement of builders group, we are suffering,” said Ashish Parashar, a resident of AVJ Heights.

The builders’ group alleges that the residents have not been paying the charges on time. “Around 750 families use prepaid meters and 450 families use postpaid meters in the society. The residents only pay according to the electricity they consume but they never pay the electricity charges for running the lift, open area lighting and other maintenance expenses. It was clearly mentioned during the possession that the residents will pay for maintenance,” said Karan Singh, maintenance in-charge, AVJ Heights.

Residents, however, alleged that the builder has been ambiguous. They cited Clause 4 of the builder-buyer agreement, according to which the buyers must pay the maintenance charge to an RWA, and alleged that the builder was yet to form any such body.

Both parties claim they have approached the district administration and Greater Noida authority.

“Nothing has come to my knowledge yet regarding AVJ Heights. The people concerned should approach NPCL and Greater Noida authority. We will also initiate talks with NPCL,” said BN Singh, district magistrate.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Vaibhav Jha reports on education, health and residents welfare association in Noida and Greater Noida. As a reporter in HT’s Jaipur bureau, he wrote extensively on issues such as atrocities on Dalits and saffronization of education.

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