Noida authority set to hear out flat owners thrice every week

NOIDA: Mediation meetings to resolve issues raised by apartment owners will be held on a regular basis from Monday. The Noida Authority has selected 20 apartment societies that will be taken up in the first round, while the remaining ones will be included later. For now, the authority will take up the issues of only those societies that have active apartment owners’ association.

Officials said that various kinds of issues among the builders, buyers and the Authority as well as internal disputes could be raised. The first meeting will be held on Monday with residents of Sunshine Helios, an apartment complex in Sector 78.

The meetings will be organised through video conferencing and a list of issues will be prepared. Officer on special duty (group housing), Avinash Tripathi, said, “We will share the details of the meeting with the office-bearers of the AOAs in advance over email or WhatsApp. Every week, we will hold three such interactions from 1pm onwards.”

Some of the societies that will be covered during the first leg, which will continue till September 24, include Mahagun Moderne, Skytech Matrott, Hyde Park, Prateek Edifice, Supertech Capetown, ATS One Hamlet, Logix Blossom County, Homes 121, Grand Ajnara Heritage and Sethi Max Royal.

Tripathi said that the remaining societies would be covered after September 24.

Apartment owners gave a mixed response to the initiative. Rajesh Sahay, general secretary of the Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Association, said, “I hope the meetings are taken up seriously and issues are resolved in a time-bound manner. Most of the apartment associations had forwarded their complaints and grievances to the authority several times. This is the first time that we all will sit face to face with officials.”

Brajesh Sharma, a member of the 7X welfare team who stays in Golf View II, said, “Instead of strengthening the existing grievance redress system, officials are busy setting up new helpline numbers, mobile app, Twitter handle and web portals. We are waiting to see if the problems will be resolved this time.”

While issues between builders and buyers are still taken up, internal disputes among the residents are rarely discussed by authority officials. Over the past one year, a section of residents staying in at least half a dozen societies have taken out protest marches against their existing AOAs.

“In a large society, factionalism and internal bickering are bound to take place. Some people also have ambitions of contesting in the AOA elections. Hence, we try to refrain from intervening in internal matters,” said an official.