Parsvnath Planet allottees protest against delay

LUCKNOW: Around 250 allottees of Parsvnath Planet, located in Vibhuti Khand, Gomtinagar, went on a day-long hunger strike on Friday to urge the builders, Parsvnath Developers, to complete the construction which has long been overdue since 2009. The project was launched in 2006.
Even as the allottees agitated at the construction site, the company executives in Lucknow office and the head honchos in Delhi remained inaccessible, avoiding any kind of query.Interestingly, company’s CEO for MP, UP and Uttaranchal, BP Dhaka pretended to be unaware of the situation and asked TOI to enquire with their local representatives. The company’s local representatives however avoided answering phone calls.
Allottees alleged that the company has always been deferring the deadline and not been able to get the completion certificate from the development authority till date. They complained that in spite of being a prominent name in the real estate industry, the developers have violated norms by offering the 542 allottees possession letters of flats, even before seeking completion certificate from the Lucknow Development Authority.
The LDA normally seeks NOC from three departments before offering completion certificate to any multistoried building -- chief fire officer, director of electrical safety and UP Pollution Control Board. In this case, no department has offered the NOC to LDA till date. “As against the agreement, infrastructures like sewerage, drainage, lifts, water supply, electricity connection are still incomplete, that is why no department has given the NOC to them. Then how can they give possession to us…..this is straightaway cheating,” added Alvi.
The project comprised 542 flats in ten towers, each having 14 to 18 floors. Allottees complain that only 60% construction has been completed so far even after three years of the deadline. As per the agreement, the allottees were to be handed over units at the most by June 2010 but the company kept postponing the deadline, first to March 2011, then Dec 2011 and then again Dec 2012, citing recession as the major cause of delay.
Unhappy with the sluggish speed of construction, residents even lodged FIR against the developer in 2011, but the file soon got closed. The condition has become worse as almost 99% allottees have already deposited 95% of the amount. The ‘Parsvnath Planet Flats Welfare association’ said that the developers had not even cleared land dues to the authority which is around Rs 8-11 crore, including the interest.
Parsvnath Developers are offering Rs 5 per square feet per month to the allottees as a compensation for the delay which comes only to Rs 8000-9000 per month. “This accounts for barely 2% of the total return on the invested amount which is a sheer loss for us”, says Jawahar Bhatia, secretary of the association. The flats range approximately between Rs 30 lakh (for 3 BHK) up to Rs 40 lakh for 4 BHK flats.
Bhatia also claimed that around 25% of the allottees are NRIs who are troubled with the delay but cannot regularly follow up with the developers because of their distant location.