While CIPL collects Rs 0.3/sqft from all households to maintain the township's common areas, residents believe they are being duped.
Apartment Owners Associations of Crossings Republik are set to unite against poor maintenance and lack of transparency in the utilisation of Township Management Charges (TMC).
Residents pay Rs 0.30/sqft as TMC to Crossings Infrastructure Private Limited (CIPL), a group of builders that maintains the common area shared by all societies in the township.
According to an agreement signed by the consortium of nine real-estate developers who formed CIPL, they were entitled to collect maintenance charges from residents until the township was handed over to either Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) or the municipal corporation. However, residents said CIPL was providing substandard services. Moreover, they said the maintenance services not only included roads and sewer connections but also many other services such as maintenance of CCTV cameras and green areas.
Residents also said that according to the agreement, CIPL was also supposed to provide space for a primary health-care centre, a fire station, and a telephone exchange. Although the period within which these facilities were to be provided is long over. But CIPL is yet to provide space for any of them.
Speaking to City Spidey, Sanjay Kumar Jha, general secretary of the Gaur Global Village AOA, said apart from maintaining roads and sewer lines, the builder was also supposed to take care of several other facilities such as CCTV cameras and green areas. Moreover, Jha maintained that residents did not actually know the details of expenditure of the paid charges. “We want to know where our money has been going for all these years. We want transparency. And we also want the builder to provide all the facilities that it has failed to deliver," added Jha.
Echoing similar sentiments as Jha, Pooja Shrivastava, a resident of Ajnara Gen X, said when residents demand the details of expenditures, CIPL hands over a sheet of paper which has unverified information about the expenditures over various heads. “We are going to raise demands for audited records,” added Shrivastava.
Shrivastava further said that Crossings Republik, despite being an integrated township, does not have boundary walls or a proper entry/exit. “Several times, unknown people from nearby villages enter the township and even misbehave with the residents. Thankfully, with increased police presence, such incidents have come down over the past couple of months,” added Shrivastava.
Shrivastava also said that although the township had a sewage treatment plant, the township relies on extracting groundwater instead of recycling water for use.
City Spidey took up the issues with Mukesh Tomar, CEO of CIPL. Declaring the comments of residents as a display of democracy, where anyone can say anything, Tomar said the maintenance charges were being properly utilised under several heads such as horticulture, security and footpaths. About the other amenities and the boundary wall of the township, Tomar said the township was undergoing development and the amenities will come up gradually. When asked about the status of the completion of the township, he said, “The township is around 50 per cent complete and is yet to undergo a lot of development.”
Meanwhile, the AOAs of Crossings Republik have called a joint meeting of all residents associations. The meeting is to be held at 5 pm on June 18 at Gaur Global Village.
