As the demolition date of the Noida twin towers nears, all eyes are now on how the biggest demolition of the country so far will be conducted under tight security. The hopes of hundreds of buyers who dreamt of owning homes in the towers will come crashing down with the rubble. The homebuyers have been paying rent in installments. Yet, their dreams could not be realized.

KEEP GETTING CHEATED ON

KK Mittal, a chartered accountant by profession, made the full payment for a flat in the towers in 2009, when the biggest battle of his life began. In 2014, the Allahabad High Court, while ordering the demolition of the towers, asked homebuyers to pay interest and compensation at the rate of 14%. The builder managed to get a stay from the Supreme Court. Buyers applied to have their money returned or be given new flats. In return, Supertech Builder allotted the flats.

According to Mittal, when he was given a flat in Azor Height in Noida’s Sector 34, it was said on behalf of the builder that this was an approved project with an Occupancy Certificate (OC) from the authorities. After getting the flat on the 23rd floor, Mittal felt that the matter was settled. However, later it was found that this flat was illegal as well. People had occupied the tower without any OC. These flats were not registered. The buyers were left hanging. Since the homes are not registered, they cannot be sold. Mittal made an appeal but the builder went to the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT.

After filing several RTIs about his flat and seeking to know why the reason behind the delay in the issuance of an OC, the response of the authorities turned out to be equivocal.

The authorities and the builder got a strong comment from the Supreme Court. But the buyers are still struggling to get their investment back.

Mittal, who is now in Pune, said that action should be taken against Noida officials.

Apart from KK Mittal, Pankaj Kaushik had flats booked in both the towers - Cyane and Apex - which will be demolished. The refunds were received in 2016. The team leader of technical services at IBM said that getting the amount for the flats was not easy. From 2014 to 2016, he tried. “We were not in a position to pay the EMIs. Some people filed the case and gave a hefty amount to the lawyers,” he said.

Many buyers still did not get their money.

Army officers, jawans, chartered accountants, businessmen, and officers in MNCs were among those cheated by the builder. Through social media and WhatsApp, Kaushik connected with investors living in different states of the country. “The demolition of the towers will be a strong message to the corrupt realtor,” he said.