Noida: RG Residency residents rally against AOA, seek fresh polls

NOIDA: A group of residents of RG Residency in Sector 120 staged a protest against the housing society’s apartment owners’ association (AOA) on Sunday, demanding a fresh election for a new executive body. Shouting slogans against the AOA, they took out a protest march on the society premises.

According to the residents, the current AOA executive body was formed without any general body meeting. But, the AOA refuted the allegations as false and asserted that they have been fighting for the overall benefit of the housing society.

In December 2021, after complaints from several residents, the district registrar ordered the AOA to conduct a fresh election in compliance with the society’s bylaws. However, eight months on, there has been no movement on the same though the executive one-year tenure got over, the residents alleged.

Avinash Arun, a resident, said, “We want a democratically-elected AOA to look after the maintenance of the society. We residents had to crowdfund to get the society’s elevator repaired. This is not how an AOA works.”

Residents said in the past eight months, two observers had been appointed by the district registrar but both could not get the AOA election done. “On July 8, an election officer was appointed but he has not yet been able to initiate the process. The AOA is delaying it,” said a resident.

There are 1,540 flats in the society. Of these, 1,300 are occupied, and 900 flat owners have got their registries done while the remaining registries are pending, “as the builder has some pending dues with the Noida Authority”, according to the residents.

However, Anirban Chakraborty, AOA secretary, said, “The first election was held in 2019 with the city magistrate functioning as the returning officer. In 2020 again, the election took place where we got elected. The issue of pending registries is between the builder and the buyers, the AOA has no role to play.”