Around 700 families living in two societies developed by Sare Homes— Spring View Floors and Ebony Greens— in Ghaziabad's Bamheta have been forced to live with illegal electricity connections for a decade as the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) refused to issue connections to them saying the developer failed to provide adequate infrastructure.
The residents claimed that despite having possession certificates and the registry of their flats, they are forced to live with the illegal connection and pay arbitrary usage charges to the developer.
"We received possession and registry between 2010 and 2012. We are getting electricity using a temporary connection that was provided to the builder for construction purposes. The developer had to complete certain infrastructure related to electricity like a 33kv substation but he did not build that. The electricity department is refusing to issue new connections to us citing lack of infrastructure," said Yashveer Yadav, president of Spring View Residents Welfare Association (RWA).
The residents said the developer has also not received a completion certificate as it has neither completed the project nor built promised amenities.
"There are 405 flats and around 2,000 people in this society. The builder has taken full payment from us including the development charges and diesel generator set fee. There is connivance between the developer and the electricity department. The builder charges us arbitrarily for electricity. Moreover, it's an industrial connection and there is heavy fluctuation. Our home appliances often get damaged due to this," said Raghvendra Gautam, Secretary, Spring View RWA.
Rakesh Kumar, a resident of the Ebony Greens, said that the society has 300 families which are yet to get a permanent power connection.
The residents claimed that the developer levies a fixed charge of Rs 500 from 2BHK owners and Rs 750 from 3BHK owners, besides Rs 7.35 per unit as per electricity consumption. It charges Rs 33 per unit in case of DG set.
The residents said they had met the Ghaziabad District Magistrate and chief engineer of the electricity department and even tried to get an FIR registered against the builder but to no avail.
An official of the Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, an arm of UPPCL, said the department is aware of the illegal connection given to the residents by the developer and has even issued several notices to the developer but received no response.
"We even discontinued the connection in the past but when we saw no action from the developer, we restored the connection on the direction of the department, seeing the problem of the residents. The developer is yet to build a power infra worth Rs 1.5-Rs 2.5 crore. Even if the residents come forward either to build the infra or submit the amount with us, we will build that and start giving connections to them," said the official.
The residents said the developer had promised a swimming pool, community hall and other facilities which were never delivered.
Amitosh Sharma, a Sare Homes official, said they deposited Rs 1.25 crore with the power department and the supply line has been laid from the Lal Kuan powerhouse till NH24 near Bamheta and will be connected to the 33kv substation once completed.
"This township is spread across 72 acres and we are giving possession in phases. For a 33kv substation, one needs to have a certain consumption which we will achieve only after possession of the third phase, named Spring View Heights, which has 660 flats. It will be delivered from March 2023 onwards. Before that, we will construct a 33kv substation," said Sharma.
He said that the club for Spring View Heights and Spring View Floors is common and will be delivered by March 2023. However, he did not offer a comment on constructing a swimming pool for the Spring View Floors society.
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