Unitech residents in Gurugram protest poor condition of access road

Around 250 residents of Unitech Residences in Gurugram held a protest over the poor condition of the access road to their apartments, seeking the developer's intervention. They allege that the road is causing inconvenience to senior citizens, patients, and ambulances. The residents have approached both Unitech officials and government authorities, but no action has been taken. The Supreme Court will hear the issue regarding the construction of the road on September 4.

Around 250 residents of the Unitech Residences condominium in Sector 33 held a protest on Sunday against the “poor condition” of the access road to their apartments and sought the developer’s intervention.

Around 250 residents of the Unitech Residences condominium held a protest against the developer, in Sector 33 in Gurugram on Saturday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The residents said that they had earlier met both senior Unitech officials and government authorities regarding the issue, but no corrective measures have been taken.

The protesters alleged that the present condition of the road is causing inconvenience to senior citizens, patients and ambulances. They also alleged that on several occasions pregnant women or those with newborn babies were forced to get off their car at the main road and walk to the society because of the pothole-ridden road.

The residents also said that they met local administration and officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to get the road built, but to no avail.

Vikram Bishnoi, president of the Unitech Residences homebuyers’ association, said that no development work is being done either by the government or by Unitech after takeover of the management from company promoters.

To be sure, the Supreme Court, in December 2019, had asked thecentral government to look into the possibility of taking over Unitech Limited and complete the pending projects after a forensic report stated that large amount of money had been siphoned off by the promoters. Later on January 20, 2020, the court permitted the central government to take over the firm and allowed formation of a new board with a government nominee as managing director. The directions were issued in a case lodged in 2015 by homebuyers of two Unitech projects in Gurugram.

Pankaj Agarwal, another homeowner, said, “This road serves a large number of residents. It may cause fatal accidents as the road has many big potholes and an uneven layer of concrete that makes it extremely hard to drive on certain patches. During the rains, the road gets flooded which makes things even worse.”

“We have raised the issue with Unitech management and local authorities, but nobody had paid attention on the condition of this road. We have paid external development charges (EDC) and paying property tax as well but getting no help,” said another protester.

When asked about the matter, Bijay Singh, estate manager, Unitech Residences, said that the issue regarding tender for construction of this road and other related matters will be heard by Supreme Court on September 4. If permission is granted, the tender for constructing will be issued on the same day, he said. “We understand that the road needs to be constructed but for that approval from the court is required,” he said.