Times of India: Lucknow: Tuesday, 29 July 2014.
Even as LDA
faces blame for inferior construction and poor maintenance at Riverview Enclave
of Gomtinagar Extension, residents also complain that the authority has
remained evasive on RTI queries seeking contract and bid papers.
A resident of
Saraswati Apartment, Krishna Kant Singh, said, "The contract papers can
throw light on minor details and specifications and explain what went wrong.
But whenever we ask for a copy of papers, LDA doesn't respond."
An RTI query
was filed about eight months ago about construction of a park but elicited no
response from LDA. A senior official in charge during launch of the project,
said, "The government has formed UP Apartment Act 2010 which empowers
allottees to seek information about the map, layout, specifications and actual
measurements of built up and super area of their apartment."
He said if
the developer whether private or government agency does not provide this
information or has violated the sanctioned map in any form, it is a punishable
offence. "If Riverview residents need information on contract papers, they
should be given the same immediately," he said.
Meanwhile,
more facts have come to the fore which show that both LDA and the construction
agency remained negligent throughout construction and handed over flats in a
hurry without ensuring that basic facilities like water, electricity supply,
sewage connectivity are in a working condition.
A resident
Preeti Singh said, "The flats were handed over under deadline pressures
without even bothering to give sewer connectivity and water and electricity
supply. The sewer lines were connected to main trunk line only a few months
ago." The possession started in 2011 but the facilities remained absent for
long.
An LDA
official involved in the project few years ago said, "LDA overlooked the
poor standards and allotted flats in a hurry. In bathrooms, proper
water-proofing and installation of fittings was not done, which is now
resulting in leakages."
According to
norms all such works should be done under supervision of junior engineers but
in reality, the work was left to the contractors and labourers.
Under the
contract, branded fittings, pipelines, superior paint were promised but in
reality, substandard products were used, he added.
Maintenance
loopholes
After the CM
reprimanded LDA for its lax approach during construction of Riverview Enclave,
the authority conducted a joint inspection with the construction agency and
found that most problems are due to poor maintenance of flats. LDA has hired a
one-stop agency for all kinds of maintenance, security, cleaning, and gardening
works.
Residents
complain that the generator is old and worn out, lifts are rusted and don't
work half the time, the staircase railing is fully rusted, the paint coating is
coming off and walls have developed cracks. Ajay Gupta, a resident said,
"They promised teak but the wood is so inferior that within 2 years, it
has chipped off because of dampness. The final coating of paint was never
applied. Even the sanitaryware, electrical fittings and water pipelines are of
poor grade."
LDA said
separate teams of construction and maintenance agency have been deployed to
solve people's problems.
Help centres
flooded with complaints
In barely two
days of operation, about 12 help centres in various apartments of Riverview
Enclave have received 60 complaints related to either construction anomalies or
maintenance issues.
Negative
reports about substandard construction in Riverview have been doing the rounds
of late, adversely impacting LDA's credibility. As a crisis control strategy,
LDA has decided to take up complaints on the spot and not let them go to the
LDA office. LDA claimed it has already resolved 15 complaints over two days.
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