District admin orders to rollback of maintenance fee hike in Greater Noida west society

The district administration Monday issued an order to roll back the maintenance fee hike of Eros Sampoornam society in Greater Noida West after a group of residents

The district administration Monday issued an order to roll back the maintenance fee hike of Eros Sampoornam society in Greater Noida West after a group of residents claimed that the move is irrational during the ongoing lockdown. The residents claimed that there are around 1,500 families in the society and many are facing salary cuts due to the lockdown. A hike in maintenance fee in such a situation was ill-timed and irrational, they argued. The society has 1,768 flats and 1,500 of them are occupied. The developer had started giving possession in 2017.

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Shyam Thakur, a resident, said residents are already in trouble due to the lockdown. “The developer increased the maintenance fee by up to 28%, depending on the size of the area, this April. A group of residents approached Jewar MLA Thakur Dhirendra Singh for his intervention in the matter on May 5,” he said.

Singh said he found that the maintenance fee hike would adversely affect residents who are already troubled by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. “The employees are already facing 30-40% cuts in their salaries. Considering these issues, we realised that the maintenance fee hike is not justified,” he said. The MLA wrote to the district magistrate and Greater Noida authority to address the issue.

Diwakar Singh, additional district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, issued an order stating that as per the revised fee, a resident’s monthly maintenance fee has increased from ₹4,000 to ₹5,800 a month, which is not justified. “This, at a time when the country is suffering from a difficult situation. The developer is directed to roll back the hiked fee, failing which actions would be taken under the Disaster Management Act 2005 and also under Section 188 of IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant),” the ADM’s letter said.

The developer said the maintenance fee has not been increased since 2017. “In January 2020, the residents had signed an agreement that the maintenance can be revised from April. Some residents have already paid the fee while a group of others has objections. We have asked them to pay the maintenance charge as per the previous rate as of now. We will form a committee comprising representatives from residents and discuss the issue once the lockdown is lifted,” Alakshendra Singh, head corporate communications, Eros Group, said.