Noida: Buyers polish shoes in protest against builders outside metro station

About 50-60 Greater Noida West home buyers angry with builders for various reasons on Sunday staged a protest by polishing shoes of general public outside sector 18 metro station in Noida.

About 50-60 Greater Noida West home buyers angry with builders for various reasons on Sunday staged a protest by polishing shoes of general public outside sector 18 metro station in Noida.

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Buyers said that they will intensify their protest further ahead if the builders will not stop harassing them. Buyers of Greater Noida West (Noida Extension), a troubled realty hub, for about 3-4 years have been staging protests against builders and the government officials for various reasons but their issues are yet to be resolved.

Buyers alleged builders are slapping unnecessary charges, delaying delivery of flats and cancelling old bookings arbitrarily. However, they say despite repeated complaints; the Greater Noida authority officials are not coming forth to resolve their issues.

“Builders have served fresh notices demanding R 50 per sqr mtrs more from old buyers. Why should we pay extra when the builders have failed to deliver flats on time. Also if the builder is delaying delivery he or officials are not liable to face penalty. But if a buyer does not pay a single installment, buyers are facing booking cancelation. Government should resolve our issues at earliest else we will continue our protests each weekend,” said Abhishek Kumar president of Noida Extension flat owners welfare association (NEFOWA).

Buyers on Sunday emulated Ghaziabad councilors, who are polishing shoes and begging to get attention of government for releasing development funds.

Greater Noida West buyers are trying every trick available to get attention of builders and officials because for 3-4 years they have been facing issues.

“I had booked my flat 4 years back. Forget possession delay, my builder is yet to start construction on site. We do not know what to do to get justice. We had invested our hard-earned savings to buy a flat,” said Vijay Trivedi a buyer.

There are 127 group housing projects being built by about 30 realtors in various sectors of Greater Noida. Almost each builder has some buyers facing some kind of issues related with services. Buyers association claimed nearly 20,000 home-buyers face various kinds of issues with builders since 2011, when Allahabad high court had cancelled land acquisition in few Greater Noida villages.

Buyers alleged that builders keep changing layout of building arbitrarily leading to harassment of existing buyers.

“Because of land acquisition cancellation by the court in 2011, buyers had started to suffer. Builders, buyers and government officials tried hard to resolve issues, but all in vain,” said Trivedi.

“We keep looking into buyers complaints as and when we come across one. We will into this issue and do the needful,” said a senior Greater Noida official.