Gurugram: NBCC to refund money with interest to Green View society buyers

NEW DELHI: NBCC will be refunding the money paid by flat owners in its housing
society, NBCC Green View in Gurugram, along with interest as the company has asked the
residents to vacate the premises for safety reasons.
This was stated by NBCC chairman Pawan Kumar Gupta. However, the interest rate is yet to be
decided by the company’s board of directors.
The housing society has 786 flats in 12 14-storey towers that were partially completed in May
2017 and delivered to buyers. However, within two years of completion, the buildings, including
their pillars and beams, started developing cracks.
IIT-Delhi, which was appointed to conduct a structural audit by Union ministry of housing and
urban affairs, in its final report on November 18 said the buildings were unsafe and required
major retrofitting. It found substandard material in construction and faulty drawings of the
structures. Following this, the company asked the residents to vacate their flats.
The residents’ association has asked for additional compensation for mental torture and
physical hardship endured by them in the last two years by staying in the shoddily constructed
project. Besides, the residents said prices in the locality had doubled since 2011, when they had
booked their flats. The association has asked for adequate compensation for them to buy
another house.
G Mohanty, president, Association of Apartment Owners, said most residents were retired from
the central government and had bought the flats thinking as they were being constructed by a
Navratna company, they would be safe.
“We thought we would live a peaceful post-retirement life, but that has been belied due to
omissions and commissions by NBCC and we have been subjected to untold misery,” said
Mohanty, who retired as director general, Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, and
was also a former CBI spokesperson.
Gupta said the board of directors would soon take a final view on the compensation, including
interest. Meanwhile, as an interim arrangement, NBCC is ready to pay house rentals for
residents to shift out immediately.
A survey is also being conducted to ascertain the additional expenditure incurred by the
residents in doing the interiors of their flats before shifting there. The company would refund
even this cost.
The residents were given the first vacation notice on October 3. A second notice was sent on
October 13 to vacate the homes by November 10. However, many residents didn’t vacate the
flats as they couldn’t find suitable accommodation.