Residents object to quarantine facility in housing tower, builder agrees to provide space elsewhere

Apartment owners of Antriksh Golf View apartment complex in Sector 78 have objected to the builder’s plan to convert vacant flats in the housing towers into quarantine

Apartment owners of Antriksh Golf View apartment complex in Sector 78 have objected to the builder’s plan to convert vacant flats in the housing towers into quarantine facilities.

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The developer Antriksh Group had asked the district administration to use vacant flats as a quarantine facility, but residents said this move will put their health at risk.

After the residents got together and registered their protest, the builder said he would provide space for setting up quarantine facilities in other residential complexes that are completely vacant currently.

The builder had requested the administration to converting vacant flats into a 100-bed quarantine facility to aid the government efforts to contain the coronavirus spread. The builder has offered vacant space on the ground floor of the housing complex, where at least 5,000 people are living. This project has 15 residential towers with 1,500 flats. At least 30% of these flats are lying unused.

“We have written to district magistrate Suhas LY and the UP government to avoid converting our housing complex into a quarantine facility. The move will put at least 5,000 people living here at risk of contracting Covid-19 because the entry and exit will be common for all flats, be it occupied or vacant. We will not let it happen,” Brijesh Kumar Singh, an apartment owner, said.

Apartment owners on Friday and Saturday came out of their flats and congregated on the road outside their complex to register their anger against the move.

“The builder should have at least consulted us before asking the administration to use the vacant flats because we have a right over this complex. We hope that after our objections, the administration will stop converting the society into a quarantine facility,” Davendra Kumar, another apartment owner, said.

Antriksh Group promoter Rakesh Yadav said the apartment owners do not need to worry at all.

“We have vacant housing projects in Noida and Greater Noida sectors, where no apartment buyer has shifted as yet. We will provide vacant housing towers at other locations, including the ones in Sector 150, Noida, and Greater Noida West. In this time of crisis, we are ready to work with the government. We have pledged to provide space so that at least a 200-bed quarantine facility becomes ready. Apartment owners in Sector 78 need not worry at all. We will not convert vacant flats in Sector 78 project into a quarantine facility,” he said.