Raheja Developers, OSB & Renuka Traders asked not to charge buyers for now

GURUGRAM: The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has directed three developers with incomplete affordable housing projects not to charge their homebuyers instalments for now.

The move comes after the department received several complaints from the buyers of four such projects launched by Raheja Developers, Ocean Seven Buildtech (OSB) and Renuka Traders.

A senior DTCP official said when they reviewed the progress of construction in affordable group housing projects in the Gurgaon circle, the status of four projects by Raheja, OSB and Renuka was found to be “unsatisfactory” as they weren’t completed on time. The developers were then directed to stop taking instalments from buyers till the time construction reached a certain stage of completion.

The senior town planner Sanjeev Mann also wrote to the DTCP director in this regard on Wednesday, and said the district town planner of Gurgaon has been requested to monitor the status of construction and report its progress.

OSB has two affordable housing projects — OSB Golf Heights and OSB Tower — where construction is around 70% and 10% complete, respectively. Meanwhile, Raheja Krishna in Sector 14 of Sohna is around 58% complete, while in Renuka Traders’s Imperia Aashiyara, only 20% work is complete.

At Raheja Krishna, the deadline to complete the project has crossed, but the project is only halfway through and its licence has not been renewed.

In a series of meetings held with the developers, DTCP directed them to expedite construction work and not to seek instalments. “Renuka Traders and OSB have submitted a scheduled action plan for completing the project within a permissible time limit,” said an official.

Welcoming the move, a homebuyer said, “I was allotted a flat in Raheja Krishna in 2015 and have already paid around 90% of that amount, but the project is still incomplete even after nearly six years. The builder has cheated people and defeated the purpose of the state government’s affordable housing policy.”

Another homebuyer, who had invested in one of OSB’s projects, said the builder has taken 40% of the flat’s price but there has been no progress at the site. “We are facing a tough time paying EMI as well as rent. We need the government to intervene and help us to recover our hard-earned money,” he said.