Angry flat owners of Amrapali Golf Homes hit the streets in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday to protest against their builder who has delayed handing over the possession of homes and refused to pay penalties arising out of the delay.
One of the grandest projects in the Noida extension area, Amrapali Golf Homes has largely remained unnoticed, even as it's full of several sad stories.
Kapil Arora, a buyer, has an ailing septuagenarian father who needs regular medical attention for his kidney treatment. If that's not enough, Kapil's mother developed a severe spine problem due to which she had to undergo a major surgery requiring an implant in her backbone.
But now, the Gurgaon resident is going through a tougher phase to meet the medical expenses. He has paid a little less than 50 Lakhs for an apartment in Amrapali Golf Homes in Greater Noida and has to pay Rs 36,000 per month as the bank's EMI against the home loan. Rs 25,000 go as monthly home rental. His repeated requests for the return of his money from the real estate giant haven't yielded any result.
Launched in 2009, Amrapali Golf Homes is yet to see the light of the day. Spread over an area of about 60 acres in Greater Noida West, the mega residential plan was supposed to have 50 high rises, but the project, as of now, is nothing less than an eye sore on the skyline the area.
Home buyers allege that the construction got stalled two years ago and despite repeated meetings between the flat owners and the builder, there has been no headway.
When the controversy of Amrapali Sapphire erupted, it gave a glimmer of hope to the Golf Home buyers.
But the momentum lost the steam with the reports of other builders and projects trickling in. The Golf Home buyers once again got neglected.
Some of them also met Amrapali Group's Chairman and Managing Director Dr Anil K Sharma in February and again in April, but the written communique they recently received has left many families disappointed.
Amrapali Group, in response to the minutes of meetings prepared by Amrapali Golf Homes Buyers states, "The delay in possession was caused due to legal and other statuary issues which was beyond our control. Further referring to the meeting dated 12-2-16, we have confirmed that we will be starting offering possession from October 2016 and close it by December 2017. Construction schedule already shared. We have also assured that possession dates will not be revised."
Angry home buyers claim that the issue of delayed and increased penalty was discussed in details with the Dr Anil Sharma and it was discussed and assured that the same would be considered if the Amrapali Group fails to meet the delivery deadlines. But the Noida based builder says, "We shall pay delay penalty as mentioned in the flat buyer agreement."
The dilemma is, if they stop paying back the bank loans they would be termed as defaulters, which run the risk of spoiling their record with the finance institutes. If they continue paying rent as well as EMIs, it can land them in financial crunch.
While the North Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) has taken a tough stance by constituting a special committee, which will look into complaints of home buyers, Amrapali Golf Homes buyers hope to move into the houses for which they have already paid through their nose. As one buyer puts it, "the project has about 6,000 homes, which means 6,000 families and at least 12,000 people. Imagine where these thousands of people would go if rendered homeless.
