Omkar Ananta’s residents are looking for MahaRERA to intervene against VGS Realty Construction

By Abhay Harish Shah, Realty Quarter

How will you feel when you see your future flat blueprint to be great but in real builder doesn’t fulfil all the said commitments? As a buyer, you will feel cheated right? A similar kind of case happened at Goregaon East where a Residents of a 31 storey tower have sought intervention from the housing regulator Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority in their dispute with VGS Realty Construction Pvt Ltd, a group company of Omkar Developers. The residents claimed that the builder had washed its hands off the project without providing promised amenities and completing it.
The Omkar Ananta residents, the SRA project component, alleged that the developer marketed the project with a long list of amenities including a double-high entrance lobby, a jogging track, a swimming pool, a landscaped garden, a health & fitness center, a playground for children and an acutherapy walkway, but none have been forthcoming even though they have made 100 per cent payment while taking the fit-out possession in 2017.
Omkar Ananta was proposed as a 31-story project on the top of a rocky hill, consisting of wings A, B and C. The project was designed to have A and C wings in the same building whereas the B wing was a separate structure with all the amenities between the two buildings. In October 2017, residents were fitted out, but they said there is no sign of the developer has started work on the B wing. Slums are still in the B wing plot and have been denied all facilities.
We had shown fancy brochures promising every comfort and we could not even see our flats until 100% of payments were made and fitout possession papers were signed. We realized there are many problems in the internal fittings after taking possession. In addition, new projects are being initiated by the developer, but they are non-committal on when we will get these amenities.
One of the resident Srikrishna Mohanta, who lives in Flat C 1104 said, “The management is not answering to any of our calls.”
Another resident named Urmila Singh, who lives in flat A 202 said, “There is no connection to BMC water. Four tankers have been provided by the developer each day. The gas piped line has not yet been provided. Parking for all of us is not enough. The elevators are not backed up by power and fire safety equipment has not been properly installed. There is only one entry/exit into the building and fire engines cannot be fitted in the event of a fire. We wonder how the SRA awarded the project Occupancy Certificate with these fundamental things missing.”
When the residents approached the MahaRERA to request the registration of the project, they were told that it would be impossible to register for a current real estate project once OC was granted. “SRA granted the OC on 29 April 2017 only 2 days before the entry into force of RERA on 1 May 2017. But the project is unfinished and should be registered with MahaRERA, “said C403 resident Krishna Keshav.
Bharat Dhuppar, Omkar Developers CEO, Western Region, has denied that it has discharged its B wing construction responsibilities, stressing that all of the facilities had been designed to take an integrated Phase I and Phase II of the project into account. “Following the completion of Phase I, we could not begin Phase II; and B wing was to be developed in Phase II. However, the real estate scenario was turned so dreadful. There’s a market downturn. In addition, due to the NBFC (non-banking financial institution) crisis, the liquidity scenario has deteriorated. But we will soon complete the B wing and residents will have all the amenities, but we can not give an approximate or exact timeframe from now on because of the market scenario, “said Dhuppar.
He says BMC water connection compliance is in an advanced stage. He responded to a fire-safety lacuna and complained that elevators were not backed up by power: “We wouldn’t have OC in the first place without fire safety compliance. In case of power failure, the elevators are equipped with the necessary Auto Rescue equipment and the elevator will be opened automatically in case of a power failure. Back-up generators are not essential in accordance with fire standards, but we want to install them soon so that elevators work smoothly even if the power failure happens.”