Gurgaon: Load shedding gets on residents’ nerves at Ardee City

Residents of Ardee Residency Group Housing Complex, a residential society in Ardee City, Sector 52, Gurgaon, held a protest for three hours against the developer on the morning of April 22 over poor and erratic power supply.

More than 200 residents assembled at the developer’s site office, raised slogans against the developer and protested against frequent power cuts.

According to residents, the builder had taken a power load of 5MVA whereas the requirement was of 15 MVA. Although the load was officially meant for 1,500 houses, it was further divided among 2,500 houses. As the society began consuming more than the allowable energy, residents had to pay extra for per unit consumed.

Residents also say they do not have basic facilities in the society, such as a club, a community center, a play ground and power backup.

“The builder has taken the residents for granted. In the last 18 years, there has been no electrical infrastructure-related development. The builder has also increased the monthly maintenance charges from Rs 365 to Rs 2,000. But there has been hardly any investment in improving the situation,” said Nihal Mandhotra, a resident.

“Today we have reached the threshold of our tolerance as this summer has been the worst in 40 years. We have had load shedding for 6-7 hours at a stretch. As this was intolerable, we had to come out on the streets to show our disappointment with the Ardee City management,” he added.

Residents allege that they have raised the problems several times with the authorities, but to no effect. They say that apart from being overcharged, the developer distributes the load on rotational basis that creates more problems for them.

Ishdeep Singh, another resident, told City Spidey, “We were promised a community center before possession. But we don’t have one yet. There is a club house in the society but it has been occupied by the developer and is being used as an office.”

Residents say that the elderly and the children are the worst-hit as it’s difficult for them to remain indoors in peak summers without electricity.

When City Spidey spoke to Anil Hasija, general manager, Ardee Infrastructure Limited, he said, “We already applied for an extension of 5KVA around eight months ago and it is being processed. All formalities from our end, including the bank guarantee, are complete. We understand how difficult it is to manage during summers and are, therefore, trying our best to solve the problem.”

A resident expressing his concerns