Gurugram: Flat cost revised for fourth time at Chintels Paradiso Tower D

GURUGRAM: Chintels, the developer of Paradiso – where two residents died in February last
year in a vertical collapse of living rooms across five floors – has written to the district
administration following a fourth revaluation of flats in Tower D, where the crash occurred.
From Rs 5,200 per sqft to Rs 6,900 per sqft, the valuation of flats by a team appointed by the
district administration has increased almost 30% in the past few weeks.
The valuation is being done to compensate the residents of Tower D, which has been declared
unfit for living in an IIT study. The developer had initially offered Rs 5,500 per sqft, saying it was
on the basis of the rate prevalent in the area. But the rate and the subsequent valuations by the
district administration’s team has been rejected by the residents.
In its letter to deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav, Chintels India termed the repeated
evaluations “unrealistic”.
“Under sustained pressure tactics of a handful of unaffected residents, the valuators are
arbitrarily increasing the value of flats. The same group is trying to dissuade the majority of
reasonable minded residents of Tower D from accepting the fair compensation package being
offered by us, by painting a misleading rosy picture of unrealistically high market valuation,” the
letter read.
The repeated rejections of the rate by the residents and the subsequent evaluations are only
delaying the compensation process, the developer pointed out.
“As per directives of the district administration, we have offered to shift all the residents of
Towers E, F, G and H to temporary accommodations at our cost, but only a few have accepted.
Even today, we continue to pay the monthly rent of more than 50 families, which cannot
continue indefinitely,” the letter said.
Chintels said it should not be held responsible for any untoward incident in the future since it
has asked the residents to move out of the towers multiple times. The IIT study has pointed out
several construction defects in the structures. “Once again, we reiterate that in the event of any
future accident, we cannot be held responsible since we have done our best to persuade the
residents of these towers to move and have also fully cooperated and paid for the ongoing
structural audit by IIT-Delhi” said the letter addressed to Yadav and the director of town and
country planning department.
Members of the Paradiso RWA, however, said the reassessment had to be done because the
valuators did not include important components such as the stamp duty, appreciation and many
other aspects. The association members also said that if the developer was not willing to give
them the compensation they were seeking, it should give new flats to the affected homebuyers.
RWA president Rakesh Hooda said, “We strongly object to the developer’s letter and request
the DC to reject it at the earliest. There should be a fresh directive to reconstruct Paradiso and
rehabilitate the residents until newly constructed flats are handed over to the owners.”
Yadav said the residents should move court if they were not satisfied with the valuation. “The
reassessment was conducted as some components were not included. Now, this was the final assessment. The report will be shared with the parties concerned. In case, the residents are still
not satisfied, they can approach court.”