Herein, we list down all of the issues and risks that need an immediate attention and resolution. These issues and risks have been highlighted and shared many times with your office bearers named above.
1. Electricity
Since November 2013, when the ‘Offer of Possessions’ were raised by your office to respective owners and owners were forced to take premature possession of the flat without the state run electricity supply to avoid any payment penalty on their part. We were given assurance by your office representatives and Site administrators that electricity will be made available through captive DG sets till the time state run electricity supply is commissioned. However, the DG sets installed are sub standards and have been supplying unregulated power resulting in damages to home/personal appliances of many residents. All such damages have been reported to your Site Administrators/ Project responsible even till this date as well.
So far, all the solutions provided by SBP for DG sets have shown unsatisfactory results with extreme voltage fluctuations, causing high risk not only to our appliances but even to the effect of having short-circuits and fire incidents in the society. Even for that matter, the placement of DG sets in the society area is inappropriate causing a lot of noise and air pollution with high risk of electric shocks due to unmanned staging of the DG sets.
With DG sets, we are also still struggling to get state run electricity supply fully operational in place even when PSPCL has issued electricity and pulse meters to most of the residents. The challenge here is largely due to:
a. Faulty Electricity Panels
b. Faulty Automatic Change-over cut-outs (Electricity-DG-Electricity)
c. Faulty in & out Supply cables.
d. Non/inadequate availability of requisite technical persons for fixing and stabilizing the power supply.
As on date some of the flats are running with state-electricity while others are still waiting for the sate-electricity to be through. However, there is another major concern regarding information of the current running electricity supply i.e. whether it is DG Set or State Electricity is being supplied at any given point of time as there are no indicators implemented in the individual homes for DG and State-electricity. Thus making us vulnerable to hefty payments towards DG electricity that we would not accommodate until automatic mechanism is in place with indicators. So, till such time that indicators are made available in each flat for both electricity connections we would be paying the DG electricity charges @ Rs. 6.00/- per unit only.
Herein, we suggest that you look into this matter on priority and provide a resolution to the electricity issues immediately. Also, we would like to understand from you that how the compensation mechanism will be worked out for the damaged home/personal appliances of residents due to unregulated power supply provided through DG sets by SBP.
It is also advised that the DG sets be immediately placed at the designated place as has been defined in the project plan for the site.
2. Parking
Parking allotment had also been a major point of contention since the ‘Offer of Possession’ was made. The cars are parked randomly in the parking bays and in the open thus sometime causing miss-alignments and even damage to the cars.
Here, we would like to know as to why the parking’s have not been satisfactorily allocated to the current residents of the society even when full and final payment has been made by each individual resident to you much in advance.
Even, the parking space is currently being occupied by your building material which we believe is sheer encroachment of our parking space by your project/site responsible. Due to this few vehicles have been damaged and we see that more such damages would take place if the building material’s placement and movement is not stopped in the parking areas. Further, in case of any vehicle getting damaged due to the placement and/or movement of building/site material then SBP will be liable to pay for the damages to the actuals.
We have been asking for the parking layout to check for the feasibility and markings organized by your staff however, all such requests have gone on deaf ears. Now the marking done are abruptly in-appropriate and impractical in approach. The same was brought to the notice of Mr. Sharma (GM) and he agreed on changing the markings but all went in vein as still your staff under Mr. Amit Anand has done temporary marking allocation to the impractical layout. There is no way we could even enter our vehicles into the parking bay under the current marking plan.
We advocate that you provide us with mandatory parking space with numbered allotment at the earliest to fix this issue for the current resident’s in the occupied towers.
3. Security
Security is the highest risk that we foresee for our family and homes at SBP North Valley. On the name of security we only have few security guards present on-site and that too to take care of your building/site material on the large. We haven’t seen much proactive approach of security towards our families and their well-being. Following are the key areas that we want your immediate attention to proactively avoid any miss happening and security issue.
a. CCTV – As per the Builder-Buyer agreement SBP was supposed to install CCTV camera’s at all common locations which we haven’t seen so far. So, what is the status on this?
b. Intercom/EPBX System is still not in place.
c. Better Security Mechanism (Security Guards) – Even with the presence of security guards few vehicle damages and thefts have been reported while no action has been taken so far by the Project/Site Administration or Security or by your good office.
d. Privacy and Personal Security – On many occasions our privacy and personal security has been breached by the construction workers engaged at the site due to their free access to the residential towers and common areas. Many a times construction workers are seen using Toilets and Bathrooms of un-allotted flats in the wee hours of morning. The same has been reported to your project team and maintenance team in multiple meetings but the ground reality still remains the same and now this has become a very high potential risk for us and our families due to the close proximity the construction workers enjoy with the occupied residential towers/flats.
Even, there has been incidents of construction workers peeking into flats through doors and balconies and sometimes knocking the doors/door bells at odd hours for something or the other. Here, we strongly advise that the construction workers entry be made restricted to the occupied residential towers and only authorized workers be allowed to enter the occupied residential towers within working hours and with prior authority of tower supervisor only.
e. Boundary Wall (society peripheral) – Is still incomplete, due to which stray animals frequent the living and common areas. While there is also a huge threat of reptiles like snakes, in the rainy season compounding into a life threat.
f. Electrical Cables – There are live cables lying open in the parking areas and that too with loose ends. Even, the cables connectivity to DG Sets is in open and exposed to rain and other weather conditions. This again is a huge risk to the life of residents.
g. Street Lights – There is no street light in the entire compound thus making it vulnerable to theft. The light currently provided in the common areas is at close proximity to anyone and can be exploited by anyone.
h. Parking – As mentioned in Point No 2, The parking is being used for storage of construction material that includes, Glass, Iron Rods, sharp edged nails and other building materials, which may cause serious injury or Death especially in the absence of Street light at night.
i. Construction Material and Debris – There have been several instances where the construction material lifted from ground and/or all sorts of debris including glass, wood, bricks, and iron pieces fall and also thrown down from above haphazardly, which can result into major accidents.
4. Fire Safety
Till this date there is no Fire Safety equipment or provision done in the entire society, exposing the life of residents to an exponential risk in case of any fire. This raises a serious doubt on whether the requisite fire clearance has been obtained from the fire department before making the society livable for its residents. If the fire safety clearance has been obtained from state fire department than provide us with a copy of the same for verification immediately.
In the event of the Fire Safety clearance not taken from the state fire department then, it is a legal and compliance issue and so, SBP should not have given possession of the flats. This way you are endangering the life of innocent people for financial gains.
We advise you to first provide us with the Fire Safety Clearance certificate and second commission Fire Safety equipment’s immediately.
5. Maintenance Charges
The maintenance charges were collected in advance for 02 years from residents at the time of offer of possession but as a matter of fact almost all the flats are still in construction phase for some or the other aspect. Now if we are still in construction phase then for what reason the maintenance charges are being utilized and so, no maintenance of equipment can be made in the construction phase. Thereby, we need the maintenance Income & Expense statement for each month and the basis of expenses being done and utilization of our Maintenance Fund.
6. Sewerage Treatment Plant
It has been observed that the STP is either not fully operational or not functioning as per requirement as at times it comes into a soil state and stinks really bad.
7. Elevators
For the Elevators we need to have a copy of the ‘Lift Completion & Commission’ and ‘Maintenance and fitness for use’ certificate issued by Johnson Lifts as none of the safety features are available in the lift. The lifts commissioned are being run in a very bad state with malfunctioning happening every now and then and people getting stuck in the lift for hours due to no ‘standard operating procedures’ and ‘disaster recover’ in place. The lifts administration is un-manned and un-responsive to all the failures that people experience every day.
8. Society Name Board, Labelling – Tower, Floor & House and Notice Boards
It’s been over 07 months since residents started living in the society however, there is no Society Name Board, No Tower, Floor & House Labelling and no Notice Board in place. For all communication and correspondence purpose it’s really hard for people to reach the society or for that matter the building/floor/house. There have been times that visitors ring bells of other residents in absence of proper labelling. To us this seems a very juvenile matter that the society has no sign of existence in the area because of no Name Board, or Labelling and even SBP is ignorant to this fact which in a way would have helped SBP only with added marketing and selling.
9. Green Area & The Club
Could you please advise and show us as to where the Green Area and Club is being established at the site because as per the brochure illustration we haven’t seen any such green area being developed or even the Club is in existence, which was part of the over-all buyout of each flat. In case of Green Area and Club is part of the project and will come into existence then please provide us with a completion date for both else, a compensation be made to all the residents for non-existence of Green Area and Club in the society.
10. Miscellaneous Issues
a. Ducts are not in place to cover wires & pipes running through houses or common areas or even at the ground floor. The electricity panel is also in a shady state without proper covers to wire bunches making it unsecure and threat to the life of residents.
b. Cracks have appeared within 06 months of handling of possession, not only in the common area walls but also in almost all of the households due to the construction material i.e. Hollow Block usage. Due to these cracks rain water is getting seepage into our houses from outside making it too dangerous for we see that in longer run it might cause the entire wall to collapse.
c. Paint work is still to be completed for many areas of the occupied towers so, kindly get this done on priority.
d. The Behavior of your Site Administration and maintenance staff is extremely rude and un-professional with no solution mindset. All of the complaints and problems have never been taken for solution in the first place forcing us to stage protest with them at multiple instances. The situation has worsened with multiple parties having authority over same role and work task. We have had discussions with almost all of your authorized representatives posted at the site i.e. Mr. Darshan, Mr. OP Sharma, Site in-charge Mr. Amit Anand, Project Manager Mr. Amrit Pal, Store in-charge Mr. Vishal, Sales Executive Mr. Rajan and none have been able to satisfactorily respond to over issues or provide a solution.
Even there have been instances of them getting violent with usage of extreme foul language and threating us for reporting the problems and their in-competency in resolving issues. Many of these instances have been bought to the notice of your HR Department and even some reported to you as well by society residents but so far no action has been initiated either by the HR or your good self. Here, every day we are reeling under the fear of something bad happening to us or our families due to their un-called for behavior. Thereby, request that you please look into this matter and make some strict actions to check these rowdy incidents. In case we still experience any such behavior by your staff then we will be left with no option but to go for legitimate course of action against them.
Herein, we have tried explaining our sincere plight to you with a view that you will understand our concerns and issues in the utmost urgent manner and provide a resolution on all of them on priority. We all have taken flats in the society keeping in mind SBP’s goodwill however, with all such instances, issues and problems we feel cheated and taken for granted even when we are your customers and could be future customers or reference to future customers for SBP.
Thereby, we suggest that an immediate respite be given to us by fixing these issues and also a promise to commitment of better service be made to gain back the confidence we lost in the SBP Group. We are looking for all viable collaborative solutions to the problems and concerns in the first place and would not like to seek legitimate course of action till we have amicable resolution.