The members of the Siddhivinayak Manas Co-operative Society are up in arms against their builder, Siddhivinayak Anutej Group. The members are opposing construction of a new road through the garden of their society and allege that builder has used muscle power to crush their opposition.

The 180 member society witnessed some stressful moments on Thursday as the friction between builder and members took a violent turn. According to a complaint filed with the Abhiruchi police chowky, some 50 to 60 goons were allegedly sent by the builder to threaten the members. A wall in the sounthern direction of the building was borken to pave the way for construction of the phase 2 of the builder’s project.

Surendra Bhosale, chairman of the society said, "The builder firm have four parteners viz. Vijay Agarwal, Sursh Aiyar, Sunil alias Pavan Mittal and Dhavan. They had promised us that society will have a compund wall on four sides and a garden will be in the middle. Now they want to pave the way for this new road. Yesterday we tried to oppose the goons but they manhandled and abused us and even misbehaved with women in the society."

Meanwhile, Sunil Mittal, one of the partners of the firm described these accusations as malicious and false. He said that the firm has nothing to do with the incidence as the road in dispute does not fall in the area of their work. He even accused that the members of the society are trying to exert pressure on them to extort money.

This is only one of the cases where consumers and builders are standing face to face. The complaints against the builder community are on the rise. Said Suryakant Pathak of Grahak Panchayat, "Builders try to manage everything by lobbying. We have all types of complaints perataining to builders ranging from one flat selling to four people, cheating, selling apartments belonging to others or on another’s land."

Grahak Panchayat experienced so heavy an increase in complaints against the builders that it established a separate cell for the purpose. Informing about the situation, Vijay Sagar, who handles these compalainst, said, "We have some 50 cases each month in this category and we have identified about 53 ways in which builders cheat the consumers. There is no builder in Pune against whom there is not a complaint. These complaints belong to various categories like not giving the possession of the flat, asking more rate."

In his argument, Sagar cited a case of a businessman from Gujrat who paid Rs. 28 lakhs for a flat. After the completion of the flat, builder refused to hand over the possession and asked Rs. 1 Lakh 76 thousand for additional charges. "Such cases are rampant," Sagar said. He also has advice for the consumers : never buy a property without purchase deed. "Among lakhs of buildings in the city, only 12,000 societies have been registered. Among these societies, only 2,500 purchase deeds have been registered," he said cautioning that consumer can lose his possession in the absence of purchase deed.
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Experts advise citizens to look for all the documents. There are many builders who promise the moon, but the right choice is always difficult. Before deciding on a apartment/flat, check if the builder has the following documents:

• Sale deed / Lease deed / Development Agreement
• Power of Attorney from the landowner, if a Development agreement is executed
• Layout approval
• Approved building plans
• Commencement certificate from Municipal Council / Corporation.
• N.A. permission and latest N.A. tax receipt.
• Latest 7 / 12 extract.
• Copy of ULC clearance certificate.
• Title report for the property under construction.
• Stamp Duty Cleareance Certificate.

(Publsihed in Pune Mirror on 18 May)