Amrapali Centurian in Greater Noida West in the dark for the past two days

After remaining without electricity for two days amid the sweltering heat, frustrated residents of Amrapali Centurian Park in Greater Noida West on Tuesday raised their voices against NBCC India Limited, the agency that has stepped in to finish stuck Amrapali projects, and demanded that it takes urgent steps to restore power and address their repeated complaints.

Residents said power problems happened last summer as well because NBCC has not installed power supply infrastructure sufficient to cater to 600 homes in Phase 1 of the Centurian society, located in Sector Techzone 4.

“We took possession of our flats one-and-a-half years ago but NBCC offered us possession without putting in place adequate electricity infrastructure. Last year, we experienced problems during summer months, and NBCC assured us that it would fix all power related deficiencies before the next summer. But that has not happened,” said Amit Gupta, a resident and member of Supreme Court-appointed committee to address buyer issues.

“NBCC is yet to deposit ₹16 crore to the Noida Power Corporation Limited, the discom that will provide the required load for our flats. We have written to NBCC and requested that they address the power infra deficiencies as soon as possible,” he said.

The project, initiated by the Amrapali Group in 2009-10, promised delivery in 2012-13. However, after the builder filed for bankruptcy, a Supreme Court-appointed receiver took control of the project in July 2019. NBCC India was later commissioned to develop all stalled Amrapali projects, including Centurian.According to NPCL officials, the society requires a 750MVA capacity load supply system and transformer, in addition to the 220KVA load that is currently available.As a result, 582 of the 600 occupied houses cannot run their home appliances.

“The situation is so dire that these 582 families haven’t really slept since the past two days. Residents are being forced to sleep in parks. When we attempt to run ACs with insufficient load, the transformer burns out, leaving us without power for several hours. When the transformer was replaced, it burnt again on Monday owing to heavy load. We don’t understand why NBCC didn’t finish all the paperwork and install the necessary load infrastructure in the society.” said Mukesh Kumar, another society resident.

“The temperature has already reached around 45 degrees Celsius in Noida. We have paid 75,000 in advance as electricity charges, but still do not have power,” he said.To make matters worse, NBCC is yet to set up a generator to provide backup power, said residents.
“We paid all the requiste flat costs before moving in. Yet, we do not have even the most basic services,” Gupta said.Residents said NBCC should have given possession to buyers after ensuring that all services are in place.In a statement, NBCC India said that it is looking into the matter.

“We are working to resolve this issue, and the load will soon be increased so that the residents have adequate power supply. We are in contact with NPCL and hope to have a 750KVA load transformer for the society by mid-June,” said Kalaimani, NBCC site supervisor.