Wednesday, October 30, 2013

How Builder's Cronies Digress a Housing Project Completion


It’s been nearly 10 months that the Confident Group washed their hands off their incomplete project, Antlia 1. This project was supposed to be completed (including all the 60 amenities, http://www.confident-group.com/infrastructureproject.aspx?ProjectId=101#contentGuestbook-tab) by 2010.

They first threatened to withdraw maintenance of this complex in October last year and convinced some owner’s representatives to take financial handover.  (Financial handover, according to them was, the owners manage the complex on their own, and the Confident Group acts as a prop.) These owners’s representatives came back convinced and called for a meeting to brain-wash other owners to concede and increase the maintenance charges.

 Few owners intervened and wrote to Dr. Roy CJ, the CMD of the Confident Group stressing the unprofessionalism and unethical withdrawal of The Confident Group from Antlia 1 without completing the project and or giving the due documents, including the occupancy certificate to all the owners. The CMD invited all the owners to meet and discuss the issues.  A meeting was organized on a weekday and out of 80 owners only 8 turned up for the meeting.

We thought, since this CMD had an education (which includes a doctorate) he would be a reasonable person unlike his MD. He turned out to be as eccentric as an eccentric could be. Being smart at maneuvering people, he skillfully tried diluting the agenda of the meeting resorting to excess emotionality and stubbornness.

The Confident Group’s USP was the 60 amenities, that among other things include fish pond with angling, telescope nest, mini super market, and 57 more amenities. In that meeting in December last, he gave us an assurance that Most of these regular anomalies pertaining to Antlia 1 in particular would be completed and rectified by March 2013 and the other amenities that would be housed in the club house and the commercial would be completed by 2013 December. This he and all the attendees signed and he went a bit overboard and handed this promise sheet in his chapel that is set up in a corner in his office.

Why I am writing this piece today is, primarily to draw your attention and urge you to be cautious about builders and their antics through their cronies. Most builders give little extras to few owners and buy their conscience. This could be in the form of a good discount at their next property or a car or investing in their venture. This comes handy when they digress from what was advertised to garner sale and that delivered.

We had an election. This election was to choose representatives who would continue to negotiate with the Confident Group and monitor the progress of the rectification and completion of the project without getting sidelined. A group of 10 owners started getting nasty virtually that compelled the proactive few owners who were instrumental in organizing the meeting with the CMD of the Confident Group and getting a written assurance from him and his team,and monitoring every step to completion, to withdraw their nomination.

If you are reading this article, then do remember that this is one of the various antics employed by this builder to digress from their responsibility.

These elected representatives of the adhoc committee of owner’s association took financial handover from the builder without intimating other owners. This was completely unethical and having spoken to many legal experts is illegal too.

The very purpose of having this election was to ensure that the association gets registered under KAOA so that we continue to get the builder to deliver.

Today, it’s been 8 months and these cronies of the confident group had set up an account in the corporation bank in the name of an unregistered association and compelled, to the extent of going overtly nasty, the owners to pay a maintenance that is way too expensive for a regular apartment sans amenities.

Today, amenities still remains a far off dream that once lured people like me to buy a home here. Not one shovel of dust have come up for the commercial construction, the fire safety remains a concern and the lifts are without ARD.

And like in most housing complexes and elsewhere, people keep mute to escape harassment.


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