If all goes to plan, East End Apartments in Mayur Vihar Phase I Extension will soon get rid of its outdated lifts. After a series of meetings over the past few months, the managing committee on January 15 managed to win the consent of residents and decided to replace all lifts installed in the society with new ones.
The apartment complex has 58 lifts — two in each of the 29 multistorey buildings to cater to residents of over 1,300 flats. Replacing all these lifts in one go will require a huge sum. The managing committee, therefore, has demanded Rs 20,000 from each flat in the multistorey buildings.
The decision was taken in a two-hour-long open house meeting held on January 15. BK Singh, president of the managing committee, has set up a five-member panel to prepare a roadmap for the project.
The five-member panel will be headed by K Pasupathy, while Mayank Agrawal, Parash Sharma, PK Agrawal and S Shankar will be the other members. “The panel will reach out to residents in each block," said BK Singh. "This committee will take care of the necessary developments on the matter and will report to the managing committee. The panel will submit its final report by January 31.”
“However, Rs 20,000 is a tentative amount; the final amount will be decided once the budget is prepared," said Singh. "We are in the process of hiring vendors to replace all the lifts. We will be able to give the final report of the estimated budget for the entire process by January 19.”
Of the 58 lifts in the society, 55 were installed with the government's permission, while the remaining three do not have government clearance. When City Spidey sought a reply on the issue, JP Verma, a member of the managing committee, said, “We have been depositing money every year to get clearance from the government. This time we will approach the government authority to seek permission. We are bound to follow all necessary guidelines for the safety of residents.”
These lifts were installed in the society 25 years ago and the manufacturer has discontinued the model over time. There have been a series of patchwork repairs on the lifts, as these specific spare parts are not available in the market now. Unavailability of these spare parts has also become a hindrance in maintaining the lifts.
In the past few years, the functioning of lifts has been a concern for residents. Fortunately, no major incident has occurred so far, but incidents of lifts stopping midway are quite frequent. The problem had been discussed in several managing committee meetings but the committee had failed to reach a conclusion, as residents were ambivalent about the issue.
At this stage, the managing committee has no option but to pass a resolution. But this was not an easy task, as it required the consent of a maximum number of elected committee members. It also required a general body meeting (GBM). However, hardly 50 residents, including managing committee members, attended the meeting. “Passing a resolution was not easy, so we decided to go for an open house meeting. The committee welcomed the suggestions of residents. It's a huge task to replace all 58 lifts, and it requires the consent of all the residents,” added BK Singh.
