It has been over a decade since Uppal’s Southend was developed at Sector 49 in Gurgaon. And more than 1,300 families residing there have suffered because of poor infrastructure and lack of maintenance on the part of the developer.
Residents say despite their repeated meetings and follow-ups with the developer, Uppal Housing Private Limited, it has failed to put in place basic infrastructure facilities such as electrical work, community centre, post-office, and a dispensary.
“As per the terms and conditions of the licence procured by the developer for this township, it is legally bound to put adequate electrical infrastructure in place. But the company has disclosed a load of 5,000 KVA against the calculated load of 17,109 KVA to avoid liability of creating a sub-station. It leads to inadequate and erratic power supply,” said Uppal’s Southend residents’ welfare association president S.S. Yadav.
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Even a letter from Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Executive Engineer (Operation) to Uppal Housing (dated September 20, 2013) said the “electrical infrastructure was inferior and much below the desired quality and quantity”. The letter further said despite repeated reminders to the developer on internal infrastructure and setting up of 33 KV sub-station “no serious steps have been taken in the face of seriousness of these issues”.
Anil Rastogi, one of the RWA members, added that even ten years the builder has failed to set up a community centre, a dispensary and a post-office in violation of the conditions of the licence.
Even though the residents are paying maintenance charges to the developer, the condition of roads, parks and green belts has not improved. “We pay maintenance charges to Uppal’s Southend Associates, but there is no written agreement defining its role. Despite payment of maintenance, we make separate contributions to repair roads and maintain other facilities. We are not even provided with the details of expenditure incurred on the maintenance and the balance. With no agreement in place, we cannot even take legal recourse against him,” said RWA secretary Ajay Chaudhary.
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The RWA members have now written to the Deputy Commissioner seeking his intervention into the matter and ensure provision of essential infrastructure facilities in the township.
When contacted, Uppal Southend project manager M.C. Bhanot refused to comment on the allegations.
Uppal Southend’s is not an isolated case regarding lack of infrastructure in licensed colonies. Residents in DLF and Malibue Town have also made similar complaints earlier. District Collector Shekhar Vidyarthi had last week directed the developers to file a status report on the basic infrastructure facilities in their townships.