Huge stock and availability of high-rise gated apartments has made Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad popular among people.
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NCR region is mushrooming with high-rise societies, some of them fully occupied, some partially occupied, and many left in lurch by developers. Huge stock and availability of high-rise gated apartments has made Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad popular among people looking for rental houses due to affordably. These areas are popular due to proximity to industrial area, IT hubs and private colleges.
Sixty foreign nationals were detained in Greater Noida on Wednesday, July 10, mostly for allegedly staying in the country on invalid and forged documents. As per the Police out of 60, many of these were found living illegally in high-rise societies of Greater Noida. 35 in Alstonia Society in Sector Pi, 20 in Sector Sigma 3, 4 in Mystic Greens society in Omicron 1, and 1 in Palm Greens society in Sector Mu.
Vaibhav Krishna, SSP Gautam Budh Nagar shared that the exercise ‘Operation Clean 10’ was conducted based on inputs provided by sources about the foreigners illegally living in residential areas. Three checking squads headed by SP (city), SP (rural) and circle officers conducted the raids in the residential areas.
Arrest of the foreign nationals’ points towards a prominent lacuna in most of the high-rise societies in Delhi NCR. 35 foreigners detained from GreNo did not have valid papers, which raises a direct question on the legality of the proper tenant verification being done by the owners of the flats they were staying in.
‘Operation Clean’ was launched on July 1 in Gautam Budh Nagar to fix and sort the issues affecting the common man. The Police is conducting special drives everyday against various issues like traffic violators, drunk driving, drinking in public places, illegal spa centres, school buses, wrong and illegal parking etc. Action against foreign nationals is the 10th such drive under ‘Operation Clean’.
SP (city) Vineet Jaiswal insisting on the importance of valid tenant verification system said, “If documents of the people detained are found valid under further investigation, we will release them. We will also be initiating action against landlords/owners who rented out the flats without proper tenant verification, as it is their duty to check papers before renting out the flats.”
City Spidey during their interactions with residents and owners of various flats found that most of the landlords take tenant verification very lightly and just make sure a rent deed is made before they handover the flats to tenants. Most of these tenants are arranged through a broker, who works on his face value in the area and makes sure that he himself handles the paperwork of both the clients (Owner as well as the tenant). So, the reliability of such papers and its authentication is itself a big question. Many owners are not even aware who their tenants are as they are based at some other city and get the rent through a friend or a broker.
While Speaking to City Spidey SP (Rural) Ranvijay said, “Police verification of the tenants is an integral part of the screening process which must be duly followed for your own security and safety. The norms make it mandatory for landlords to carry out police verification of their tenants. Any failure in this regard makes them accountable for action against them.”
SP (Rural) Ranvijay further stated, “The drive on foreigners was carried out based on the complaints we had received through sources. Teams acted on the tip and detained 60 foreigners. Out of these visas of 9 had expired, while 8 had forged visa documents, some of them refused to show their credentials and, hence, were detained. 17 out of these escaped the detention centre and police is on lookout for them.”
“We have initiated section 151 of CrPC against them and presented them before judicial magistrate. Half of the 60 foreigners detained were arrested on Friday night for disturbing peace. We are trying to tab the owners as well. Once we can check the documentation process of the tenancy, we will be in a position to decide if an action should be initiated against them. If they have bypassed the tenant verification process a show-cause notice will be issued against them," added SP(Rural).
The entire incident raises a valid question on the lackadaisical attitude of residents towards the rules and regulations framed for their own security. How many of us make sure that our tenants and maids are properly verified but we expect police to be on the vigil always and any flaw on their part makes us rant.
