The residents of Central Park 2, Sector 48, protested against the builder of the housing society on Friday by hanging posters and banners from their balconies with slogans for holding a get-together at the newlybuilt colony club, not yet opened for use. According to residents, the builder had held a party at the club premises, which has not been opened yet, on October 28.

The residents had forwarded a complaint to the police in this regard on October 29. They had said in their complaint that the club is their property and they cannot allow outsiders to use it.

Later, they unanimously decided to resort to hang posters from their balconies, across each of the 16 towers.

The residents said they had adopted such a way to let the builder, Shweta Estate Private Limited, know they are unhappy with the maintenance of the colony, and that the colony belongs to them, the residents, and they want to maintain it.

“On the night of October 28, we spotted some 20-25 people enjoying a party in the club, built for us. The club is not yet inaugurated and it has been built with our money. We got upset seeing outsiders in our new club and lodged a police complaint the next day. This is builder’s monopoly,” Anand Gupta, a resident, said.

Maintenance works such as cleanliness, streetlights, electricity supply, club, and commercial establishments, are with the builder. The builder has appointed a private company for maintenance which collects ₹4.85/square foot (sqft) from residents as monthly fee.

There are a total of 900 flats across 16 towers in the colony. The residents have been trying to hold elections to elect president, secretary and other members of a resident welfare association (RWA). They alleged they have been writing to the director of town and country planning since 2016. The society is spread over 48 acres, the license for which was obtained in 1998.

Rakesh Malhotra, vice president, Shweta Estate Private Limited, said, “We are opening the club officially on Monday. The October 28 incident was our mistake and we admitted it to the residents.” Once the RWA is elected, the builder will have to hand over maintenance of the colony to the elected members.

Residents, however, alleged the builder has not been taking any actions towards conducting RWA elections. “The builder does not want to give up maintenance as they exercise their monopoly by increasing maintenance charge every year. We had earlier tried to get a justification of the maintenance charge but the builder never shared the details with us. As per procedure, the builder should write to district registrar firms and societies to conduct RWA elections but this has not happened,” Amit Garg, another resident, said.

The authorities, meanwhile, said that the issue of RWA elections in the colony will be looked into. “I will inquire about pending RWA elections in this colony and initiate appropriate action,” said IS Yadav, district registrar.

First Published: Nov 03, 2018 13:39 IST