Jilted Jaypee customers plan to mount hunger strike

With no relief in sight, distressed homebuyers of bankrupt realty company Jaypee Infratech are planning to stage a hunger strike on April 19 over the delay in the delivery of their flats.

The decision was taken after homebuyers received an email invitation from Jaypee Infratech’s former chairman and managing director (CMD) Manoj Gaur for a “conversation” on April 19.

In the letter, Manoj Gaur also expressed his anguish over the delay in delivery of their homes, which has further upset homebuyers who have decided to go on a hunger strike on the same day.

“Technically, he is not CMD, so how can he reach out to us? All buyers have received the invitation which he sent on the occasion of Ramanavmi. In protest, we will stage a hunger strike on that day, because we have only been cheated,” Amandeep, one of the homebuyers, said.

The letter was sent from Gaur’s official e-mail address. Even after 18 months of insolvency proceedings, there has been no winning bidder announced in the Jaypee Infratech insolvency process. 

Of the two construction companies who submitted bids to complete pending flats, it seemed that state-owned National Building Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) had a clear advantage over the other firm: Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company. However, there has been no final decision so far on whether NBCC will be awarded the bid to complete the project.

Earlier, Jaypee Infratech’s parent company Jaiprakash Associates had tabled a settlement plan under the IBC, but buyers claim that this shows that the company had access to money and the matter must be looked into. The NBCC, meanwhile, has reportedly asked for an extension to submit a fresh bid, which buyers feel would further affect the resolution process. So far, there are 22,500 flats which remain incomplete in Jaypee’s projects. 

Meanwhile, Jaypee officials claim that around 15,000 of these are almost in the final stages of completion and delivery is being done as and when they are completed. 

In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal had admitted an application from an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution for Jaypee Infratech after the company defaulted on a Rs 526 crore loan. This had left 32,000 homebuyers in the lurch with several of the firm’s projects in Noida and Greater Noida remaining incomplete.