Uniworld City may seem like the perfect residential address from outside but there are nearly 5,000 families who are being denied possession of their flats there. After decades of wait, more than 80 flat-owners staged a protest before the unfinished buildings on July 22.
The complex in Action Area III was built by Bengal Unitech, which is a part of the pan-India company Unitech. But they have been defaulting on completion of the project for years in New Town, Bengaluru and Gurgaon.
Many helpless flat-owners started filing individual cases in courts across the country but in 2017 Unitech declared bankruptcy and all the cases were brought under a single umbrella. The case is now being fought in the Supreme Court. “But we have lost all control. The government has appointed a board of lawyers which is fighting the case on our behalf but we have no access to them. Nor do we know about the progress of the case,” said Captain Ashok Menon.
Menon already owns an apartment in Uniworld but had booked another one for his son, who lives in Malaysia. “We have questions but we don’t even know who to ask. We have never met the lawyers who are fighting the case on behalf of us. We want the court to handover the project to some other builder who can complete the project,” he said.
The unfinished portion in Uniworld includes 29 towers, that house 10 buildings each, making it a total of 290 buildings. The total number of flats would be about 5,000. When crossing the complex, these are the under-construction buildings visible from the main road. Work is at a standstill.
The gathering at the protest site included retired citizens who stood with placards for over two hours.They had all dressed in black.
Manish Gandhi had booked his flat in 2007 but still hasn’t got possession. “Like me, there are sufferers who have come from Gurgaon, Patna, Kochi and other parts of the country to participate in this protest. Some booked their flats as early as the year 2000 but still haven’t been handed the keys. They have even paid their EMIs for home-loans but are waiting for their homes,” said Gandhi, who is president of Uniworld Social and Cultural Welfare Society. This group has been formed by disgruntled flat-owners.
Bengal Uniworld has an office in Uniworld City. Officials here, along with the association of residents already living inside, handle the dayto-day handling of the complex. The Telegraph Salt Lake contacted them. They refused comment since the case is subjudice.
Shukhobrishti, another complex not far from Uniworld City, is facing similar problems. There too thousands of flat-owners are awaiting handover and residents have formed an association to sue them in court together.