Mumbai Mar 30 PTI The Mumbai police have registered an FIR against a city-based developer for allegedly snapping the water connection of the members of a housing society at Vakola in suburban Santacruz and shutting the terrace as well as the welfare office of the building for them following a dispute over maintenance dues an official said on Wednesday The FIR was registered against Shakil Khamkar of Dolphin Developer at Vakola police station on Tuesday He was booked after Sunny Mahida a member of the housing society lodged a complaint against him he said In the complaint Mahida alleged that over a month ago Khamkar had threatened over 40 families residing in the building that he would stop the supply of water and electricity and also the lift service if they dont pay the society maintenance charges to him On Monday morning he suddenly snapped the water supply of the society When the residents asked the society watchman about it he said Khamkar had asked him to do so the complaint said Immediately after that the residents took up the matter with the police and submitted a written complaint to them During the probe the police found that although the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC had not given the Occupation Certificate OC to the residential complex comprising two buildings Khamkar had handed over the OC to the society members We have registered the case against Khamkar under Indian Penal Code IPC section 341 wrongful restraint and sections of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act MOFA and investigation into the case is underway the police official said Last week taking serious note of the housing society members whose water or electricity connections have been disconnected for non-payment of pending dues or maintenance Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey had said that those executive committee members found doing this will be booked for extortion and criminal house trespassing He had said that instructions have already been given to police stations to take the action PTI ZA NP NP

New Delhi Feb 22 PTI The partial collapse of a tower at Chintels Paradiso housing project in Gurugram Haryana has exposed serious lapses in the working of both development authorities and real estate regulators in the state under the realty law RERA according to Forum For Peoples Collective Efforts FPCE FPCE an apex body for home buyers has demanded that development authorities and regulators under RERA should monitor the construction quality from the beginning of a project to fulfil their responsibilities of protecting the interest of home buyersTwo people had died in the partial building collapse incident that took place in Chinrels Paradiso on February 10 In another case a housing society in Gurugram comprising over 700 flats constructed by state-owned NBCC Ltd will be demolished after it was declared unsafe for habitationHome buyers spend their hard earned savings to buy house for life but in this case the collapse happened within four years of possession This has exposed the serious lapse on the working of both the development authorities and also the RERA authorities FPCE President Abhay Upadhyay told PTI on TuesdayReal estate developers are definitely to be blamed for poor construction quality but the onus also falls on these authorities he addedUpadhyay pointed out that many such cases have been witnessed in the last few years where chunks from roof have fallen but still no quality check measures were being undertaken by development authorities or by RERA authorities either during construction period or before possession is being offeredIssue of Occupation Certificate OC is now merely a formality rather than actual physical inspection which is mostly obtained through illegal means by builders Sadly the RERA authorities merely rubber stamp such certificates which certainly does not absolve them from their prime responsibility to protect the interest of home buyers he allegedThe FPCE President demanded that regulatory authorities under RERA should hire in-house technical team to check quality of constructionBoth development and RERA authorities should monitor the construction quality from the beginning of the project Upadhyay saidG Mohanty President of Apartment Owners Association NBCC Green View Gurugram blamed NBCC for poor constructionThey have admitted to doing poor construction and further ignoring our repeated pleas since last four years for taking measures to rectify the defects At this stage they shouldnt be allowed to take advantage of their own faults by using the district administration to throw us out of our homes and taking possession of the project he saidOur demand is that NBCC should refund the entire amount homeowners have paid with 15 per cent interest registration charges and court fees paid cost incurred on interior work as well as Rs 25 lakh compensation for subjecting home buyers to harassment and mental agony Mohanty saidVipin Tyagi resident of Jaypee Aman project in Noida requested the government and all departments concerned to conduct the structural audit of all the towers of Jaypee Aman societyAfter the recent incident of building collapse in Gurugram society resident of Jaypee Aman Sector 151 Noida are among the worried home buyers This is because of the deteriorating and neglected condition of towers within the society Tyagi addedNitin Prabhakar Shingote Founder of startup Propcheckup advised home buyers to do self visual inspection of the home or hire a home inspection company that does a thorough visual check of the flat for all kinds of defectsWe check for defects in windows electricals plumbing wall and ceilings etc If we notice larger cracks and other issues we bring in structural auditors to evaluate the buildings structural stability These structural auditors perform a series of tests to check the quality of the concrete and the quality of steel he added PTI MJH RAM