FW: Mumbai’s Hotel California: the Nahar Amrit Shakti Housing Scam in Powai
manas kundu
May be we are a shade better on some points like car parking, getting the CHS finally ( till many question why we took society!!), no OC -by fraudulent means or not. Any way it is LOK Shakti and only to see if LOK YAMUNA shakti matches.
Manas.
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:27:11 +0530
Subject: Mumbai’s Hotel California: the Nahar Amrit Shakti Housing Scam in Powai
To:
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place), such a
lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California, any time
of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here…
“Last thing I remember, I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was
before
"Relax," said the night man, "We
are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like, but you can
never leave!"
These lyrics from the Eagles classic song Hotel California sums up the terrifying experience of residents of Nahar’s Amrit Shakti, Chandivali, Powai. Anybody can buy a flat from builder S B Nahar… But if they want to sell and leave, he will not let them, as he wants total control over the market for sale of the flats.
Nestled on a hill near the Powai Lake, a stone’s throw from the posh Hiranandani complex neighbourhood, Nahar’s Amrit Shakti seems like a heavenly place to people living outside – but once you are in, you learn that it is a living hell. Download this sales brochure: http://tinyurl.com/Nahar-Amrit-Shakti-HDFC-scam
The brochure and the sales people lead you to believe that this massive project, consisting of about 5000 flats, is heaven on earth, and a premium investment destination for desi people abroad. The HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) brand in this brochure has been inserted as a badge of honour to assure you that all things will be done according to law to safeguard your rights as an owner. HDFC adds credibility to this dreamy, fluffy brochure… and that is precisely the trap. Investors who believed in the HDFC brand are being fleeced of several lakh rupees each.
Residents have plenty of reasons to complain, because in this gated community, half a kilometer from Powai police station, there is no law. S B Nahar (Nahar Builders & Developers) is the law here. The security men speak softly, but don’t be fooled, they enforce the builder’s law here; if you don’t behave, they won’t let you in. You are alone in your fight against the builder, his army of maintenance men and security men, and his friends in the administration.
THE LAWS OF NAHAR’S AMRIT SHAKTI:
1) Pay-and-forget parking. Some people were promised exclusive closed parking, and some were promised open parking slots. For these promises, the residents paid amounts ranging from Rs 2 to 5 lakh per marked parking space (although it is illegal to charge for parking spaces, which are common amenities and therefore the property of the cooperative society). The helpless residents, who have paid these amounts 3-4 years ago, are still parking their posh cars haphazardly in the compounds, wherever the security men tell them to. The ground floor was originally designed for basement or stilt parkings, but these spaces are daily being enclosed with walls and sold as part of these duplexes before the very eyes of the residents.
2) Non-existent amenities. Anybody who paid for a 1500 sq. ft house got only 750 sq. ft of carpet area (plus balconies shown in the plan as flower-beds). Inherent in the price of the flat is the price of club, pool and lavish amenities in their backyard, such as a playground and a modern school etc. All these luxurious amenities shown in the brochure or promised by the sales staff have been “under construction” for over five years now. Without much of these amenities ready, the builder often thrusts possession on to the owners at very short notice of a few weeks. In this situation, people are forced to choose between two bad choices: (a) If they refuse to take possession without those amenities, Nahar terminates their contract and forfeits their advance amount – usually 20% of the cost. (b) If they take possession without these amenities, their agreement with the builder has a clause that says that they shall not complain about any lack of amenities, faulty construction etc.
3) Formation of cooperative society being actively obstructed. Although many of the buildings are almost fully occupied (e.g. Tilia-Tulipia, Arum- Allamanda, Iris-Ivy, and Mirabilis-Mimosa), the builder is not fulfilling his legal obligation of calling an AGM, enabling a cooperative society to be formed and handing over charge of the building and amenities to the cooperative society. Is it just neglect? No, there is a method behind the madness of not forming cooperative societies, and Nahar is threatening the residents who wish to unite and form a cooperative society. People who live with their family and children are too afraid to oppose Nahar’s “omnipresence” in Chandivali. On 12th August 2011, some residents finally managed to unite and organize a morcha against the builder. Within minutes, the local sub-inspector materialized and threatened to impose a curfew on this peaceful gathering. Nahar openly threatened the residents, saying that if they insisted on forming a society, he would discontinue construction of the amenities that they had already paid for.
4) Ongoing encroachment of common space and amenities. Collection of an average of Rs 5 lakhs from each of the 4,000 residents here, has given S B Nahar about Rs 2,000 crore of interest-free play money. Nahar is using some of this play money to build unlawful “duplex” dwelling units on the podium-floors of each building, which are part of the common amenities where the society office and play area were earlier shown. Each of these massive duplexes is an encroachment by the builder, and these are being sold with a further 2000 square foot fenced backyard – land that is part of the the buildings’ amenities. These grand flats measuring about 4,000 sq. ft. carpet will fetch the builder nothing short of Rs 5 cr. each. A narrow stairway in each of these duplex flats leads to a room on the ground floor, which was sold as common parking. This encroachment would not be possible if a cooperative society and managing committee were formed, and took charge of society premises.
5) Putting up an illegal 22-storey building on a reservation plot. S B Nahar had promised the residents of Magnolia Enclave & Orchid Enclave -- large societies with many buildings – a very big garden and parking area in a reservation plot. But instead of building these common amenities, he built a 22-storeyed building named Bluebell on that plot, and started selling the flats before the eyes of the residents. However, some courageous members got together and managed to get a Stay Order from High Court on the sale of flats in Bluebell. The big question is: why did MCGM not take any action to stop this daylight robbery, which happened during the tenure of Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan?
6) Ongoing theft of electricity and water from the completed buildings for the under-construction buildings. In May 2011, a major short circuit and fire happened in the meter room of Vinca building. This incident revealed that electricity was directly being tapped from the underground cable of Reliance Energy, and the unauthorized cable was connected to an under-construction building. The fire brigade, however, has not yet issued its report after the incident, and Reliance Energy also has not pursued the matter further, despite follow-up by the angry residents. Similarly, the residents of Lilium and Lantana buildings recently discovered that municipal water from their building was being used for the construction work of a neighbouring building, and made a commotion. However, the municipal authorities have not initiated any action against the builder. The builder has evidently hushed up the matter with the fire brigade, Reliance Energy officials and MCGM officials. Such theft would not be possible if a cooperative society were in charge of the building.
7) Collection of 18 months maintenance in advance. Nahar Builders & Developers charges each flat monthly maintenance of about Rs 18,000 per quarter, even if it is unoccupied. The residents and investors are asked to make advance payment for 18 months as a lumpsum i.e. Rs. 1.08 lakhs. There is no accountability for this. In the instance of one building, Nahar raised a fresh demand for payment within one year, saying that the advance payment had been consumed by expenses.
8) Charging exorbitant transfer fees in return for NOC to sell. Builder Sukhraj B Nahar is a clever man, who understands this mentality of his customers. He understands that rather than put up a fight in courts, many of these people would prefer to sell their house and leave. And that gives him another opportunity to twist their arms. Although they are owners of the property, they are not allowed to sell it, because Nahar insists that they should first get his No Objection Certificate (NOC) – which is not required by law. For giving NOC, he demands a rate of Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per sq. ft. (Super Built Up). On a typical flat admeasuring 1500 sq ft, this means Rs 7.5 to 15 lakhs. He usually collects this amount in cash, but in case someone insists on a cheque payment, Nahar permits “voluntary a donation” to the S B Nahar Charitable Trust in exchange for an NOC. See a specimen here: http://tinyurl.com/SB-Nahar-Charity-Trust-Receipt (This is an illegal fee. A cooperative society can charge a maximum of Rs 25,000 as transfer fees. The builder is actually not authorized to charge transfer fees at all. Even if one assumes that the builder is acting on behalf of the cooperative society that will eventually be formed, he cannot charge more than Rs 25,000.)
9) Cheating with properties that are already sold. S B Nahar does not like second-sales of his flats since he wants to control the price of his apartments. He insists that all sales of flats should happen through his sales staff and has set up another broker company called Property Lounge. His staff persuades the prospective seller to hand over the keys to the flat, by promising to sell the flats and remit money to their bank account within 7 days. People don’t hesitate, as this is an accepted practice when one appoints an estate agent to dispose off one’s properties. But after that, the seller finds it extremely difficult to get back his own house keys!
10) Cheating investors. About 4 years ago, when Nahar Builders & Developers announced the bookings of two buildings named Water Lily and White Lily, 700 flats were sold at the rate of Rs 5,500 within 28 days. Surprised at his own success, the builder had second thoughts about his rates. And so, he called all the investors back and refunded all the token cheques of Rs 2-3 lakhs each, saying that MCGM had not approved his plans. Three months later, Nahar announced fresh bookings at the hiked-up rate of Rs 9000, and sold all the flats at this new rate – effectively cheating about 700 investors of their gains.
11) Fraudulently getting Occupation Certificate. MCGM gives occupation certificates (OCs) for half-complete buildings of Nahar. MCGM also lets him change the names of his buildings in the OCs by pen, and backs him up if he is challenged. See these photos taken the backyard of buildings that have been given occupation certificates: http://tinyurl.com/Nahar-Amrit-Shakti-photos
The residents of these buildings belong to the empowered class of society. These are prestigious people who can afford to shell out more than a crore rupees per 2 BHK flat. But most of these people don’t have the temperament to fight a bully builder. Large numbers of the residents of Nahar’s Amrit Shakti are afraid of the builder’s uniformed maintenance men and security guards swarming all over the massive compound and the gate. If you are blacklisted by Nahar, you and your family members will find it difficult to enter your own property in these heavily guarded compounds. So it is better to buy peace-of-mind by living quietly within your four walls according to the rules that the builder makes for you.
Many investors are NRIs – rich and powerful abroad, but with limited capability to fight a legal battle in the Indian courts. Hundreds of NRIs were lured into buying flats at Nahar Amrit Shakti in property fairs held by HDFC’s branches abroad in Dubai and London.
So HDFC (a premium real estate institution whose chairman is industry captain Deepak Parekh, who sits on many government committees) is an exclusive partner in Nahar’s Amrit Shakti project. On page 16 of the Nahar Amrit Shakti brochure (http://tinyurl.com/HDFC-involvement-in-Nahar-Hsg), it clearly states, “Much of Nahar Group’s success can be attributed to HDFC”. Using HDFC’s backing, Nahar goes on to claim the support of a couple of dozen other financial institutions as well on the next page. This is misleading.
HDFC’S EXCLUSIVE TIE-UP WITH S B NAHAR IS AT MANY LEVELS:
a) HDFC Bank’s direct loan to Nahar. Onwards from 2005, HDFC has given project finance of several hundred crore rupees to Nahar Builders and Developers to enable this massive project to get off the ground. When a flat buyer takes a home loan from HDFC for purchase of a flat at Nahar’s Amrit Shakti, the HDFC’s loan to the builder gets paid back by the people who have taken a loan from HDFC to buy the house. In other words, HDFC acts as if it is a part owner of this project. Has HDFC considered the conflict of interest such an arrangement suffers? Isn’t HDFC now willingly overlooking the builder’s wrongdoings and criminal acts in order to recover its stake in the project?
b) HDFC Realty Ltd is a major estate broker of Nahar. HDFC’s estate broking arm HDFC Realty Ltd is actively promoting Nahar Amrit Shakti flats. Despite knowing that Nahar imposes illegal transfer charges and indulges in numerous other malpractices, HDFC Realty’s agents never inform buyers about these issues at the time of buying the flat. If you search on HDFC Realty’s website for properties in Powai worth over Rs 1 crore, almost all the search results shown are Nahar’s properties in Chandivali. (Note: The website shows amenities like “Pool, Children Play Area, Gym, Club house, Jogging Track”. This is a completely false claim. Although buyers have been getting possession of their flats since 2008, the clubhouse, jogging tracks etc. remain at a rudimentary stage of construction.)
c) HDFC Bank’s overseas branches display Nahar Amrit Shakti brochures. Thanks to this tie-up, Nahar enjoys the brand equity of HDFC among NRIs who would never have heard of this dubious builder, had it not been for HDFC promoting this project all over the world. HDFC has ended up acting as Nahar’s contact point with unwary investors enthralled by India’s success story.
d) HDFC employees collude with Nahar. People who purchased a flat in Nahar Amrit Shakti with an HDFC loan find that even HDFC personnel write letters and emails insisting on Nahar’s NOC before transferring the loan to the buyer’s name. Thus, they knowingly participate in this illegality.
Are these sorts of blatant wrongdoing also happening in other massive housing complexes, which are essentially gated communities run by builders rather than cooperative societies? One doesn’t know, because the people who live in gated communities rarely come together to discuss these things, and builders enjoy an unusually free hand in running the show. But in the case of Nahar’s Amrit Shakti in Powai, we know of these things because a handful of courageous individuals have decided to come out into the open… and fight for their rights.
If you are one of the victims of this massive scam, which affects over 4,000 families, please don’t remain silent and buy peace. Now is the time to speak up and join the fight for truth and justice.
Warmly,
Krish
98215 88114