Realtor asks govt to take up township maintenance

Realty major Ansal API has asked the Haryana government to takeover maintenance of two of its flagship townships — Sushant Lok (Phase-1) and Palam Vihar — spread across 600 acres each in Gurgaon.

Realty major Ansal API has asked the Haryana government to takeover maintenance of two of its flagship townships — Sushant Lok (Phase-1) and Palam Vihar — spread across 600 acres each in Gurgaon.

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If civic bodies such as Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) or Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) agree to the move, the developer would cease to charge maintenance charges from residents and all civic problems of the localities would be addressed by the state government agencies.

Despite falling under the jurisdiction of the MCG, which was upgraded from a municipal council to a corporation in 2008, all privately developed townships such as DLF City, South City, Sushant Lok (Phase-1) and Palam Vihar continue to be maintained by the respective builders.

Under provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, developers are required to hand over their townships to the state government five years after receiving the completion certificate. However, this has not been done even 20 years after their inception in the 1980s.

On Thursday, MCG commissioner Sudhir Rajpal wrote to the Haryana director general (urban local bodies) SS Dhillon asking him to expedite the process of taking over private colonies for undertaking maintenance of existing projects as well as construction of new townships.

A resolution in this regard was taken in a meeting of the top brass of the Haryana urban local bodies department last month. MCG commissioner Sudhir Rajpal said, “Ansal API has, in-principle, agreed to hand over two townships to the state government for maintenance. This is a noble step on part of the realtors and has been suggested for the first time in Gurgaon. However, no other developer has so far approached the MCG.”

Senior consultant (president) Ansal API NK Sehgal confirmed the report. “We have been running in losses and lose close to R1 crore per year on the maintenance of these two localities as many residents do not pay or under pay maintenance charges following a row over the rate of maintenance charges,” he said.

“We want the state government to takeover these localities and maintain them. However, we have been requesting the government to issue us a final completion certificate for 20 years so that we can qualify for the handing over process. We were issued partial certificates in 1991 for both the townships,” Sehgal added.