Homebuyers continue to demand vigilance dept, grievance cell in Noida authority

Many homebuyers in the city alleged on Saturday that the “Noida authority officials do not bother about transparency, and ignore issues faced by the people”.

This came one day after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its performance audit report, claimed “gaps in the governance structure of the Noida authority”, which has translated into extremely poor outcomes for all principal stakeholders including the authority, the government of Uttar Pradesh, industries, and the public, specifically the homebuyers.

The homebuyers said that the state government kept ignoring their demands of setting up a dedicated vigilance department in the Noida authority, to handle corruption complaints filed against the authority officials. In 2017, they wrote a letter to the state government and officials concerned, demanding an independent vigilance body and a grievance cell be set up in the Noida authority for the homebuyers. “But nothing has happened so far, because it seems that the Uttar Pradesh government has not bothered to act on these issues, or take action against corrupt officials,” said SK Nagrath, president of Jaypee Aman homebuyers welfare association, who is also a resident of Noida Sector 41.

“We had written a letter to Noida MLA Pankaj Singh and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, demanding an independent vigilance body and a grievance cell in the Noida authority, , but no action was taken,” Nagrath said, adding that public representatives and senior officers should ensure that “residents as well as homebuyers in Noida are not unduly troubled by the authority”.

Mangeram Bhati, an advocate and member of Gautam Budh Nagar Bar Council, said, “For example, if any clerk asks for a bribe, where should we file a complaint? We have to go to the same corrupt officials to file a complaint. There is an immediate need for a separate vigilance team, which can probe and act on such complaints.”

Uttar Pradesh industry minister Satish Mahana, however, refuted the allegations that their government has not been taking action in corruption cases from Noida. “We launch probes in corruption cases, be it against any official or department of the Noida authority. We have addressed all issues faced by the homebuyers and others too in the past… Our government has zero tolerance against corruption,” Mahana said.