Cloud 9: Builder violates laws with impunity while the administration looks away

An exotic living destination that embodies absolute delight! That is how the Aadi Best Consortium Pvt Ltd of Rishab builders have advertised their project in plush Vaishali, a locality bordering East Delhi. The project had everything in its favour. 750 flats and a commercial complex (Mall) just bang on the Delhi border. Great location – 15 minutes drive from Connaught Place. It boasted of a club house, a gym and children park with swings & slides, a jogging track and landscaped gardens within the complex and even swimming pools et al. “Just envision a home that manifests excellence and modernity in a twinpact,” the website of Cloud 9 announces. “Cloud 9 tower offers this guarantee. Every space, every alcove and every angel is encased in contemporary style in alliance with nature. The structural magnificence will harmonize you in vigorous surrounding and will gratify your pleasurable indulgences. The inviting and charismatic architecture delivers the magnanimous rooms and many other bonus options.” What more could one ask! With the tallest building in the area for free tickling of your sense with an excellent view! This is what the builder wants you to believe and buy flats that started selling from Rs 34 lakhs to now going close to Rs 50/70 lakhs (for a 1,000 sq ft flat with Rs 6434 per sq ft - totals up to approx Rs 7000 if all the allied and other charges are included)! But here is the reality check! There is no way you can drive from CP to Cloud 9 in 15 minutes unless you break speed limits and are not zipping fast through non-peak time slots. Of course, flying is an option you can explore. “It is zero km from Vaishali Metro station,” says the company website regarding the location. The builders have got their measurements wrong. It is not zero km from Vaishali metro. Land Grab controversy Out of the 6.25 acre plot it claims, the builders are involved in a legal tangle with the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary battalion for grabbing 5304 sq mtr of its land. The builders claim they got a NOC from the PAC, a claim which PAC denies. The PAC has lodged a complaint with the authorities including Indirapuram Police Station. A case is in progress. It is believed that a commanding officer of the PAC battalion was liberal enough to look the other way for a certain ‘mis-understanding’ – which gave birth to the NOC claim. Bharti Singh is the new Commandant, 41 PAC Battalion, Ghaziabad, who has posted two armed guards who keep a vigil from behind apartment blocks. The location of Cloud 9 is hardly perfect. It is built bang next to the Nallah. It has been covered with concrete and you may not be able to see it from the 18th floor of Cloud 9. But the all-pervading stench of the Nallah would be a certain giveaway. Residents in Vaishali are facing health problems because of toxic gases emanating from the Nallah. Besides electrical equipment fails in a matter of year/s. Air conditioners, refrigerators and TV sets are victims of the gases. Besides the view of neighboring Gazipur dump in Delhi would be an unwelcome sight from the top floors of the buildings. And of course there is the problem of pollutants from that area as well. Daink Jagran newspaper in its report dated 21 April 2013 wrote that the builders are illegally occupying the Nallah. “If the Cloud 9 original records are checked perhaps the truth can be brought to light,” says a government doctor who has written to the Ghaziabad district magistrate. The Nightmare But the so-called exotic destination turned out to be a nightmare for the builders. One fine rainy evening in September, the builders found their dream project was in trouble as the Nallah in front of the apartments block caved in. The result was instant flooding of the under construction blocks. Express Green RWA joint secretary Mohit Sharma says, Drain water gushed into the under-construction apartments of E block of the society. Taking precautionary measures, the RWA has restricted entry to the basement of the other residential blocks. Only a wall separates E block with other residential blocks and wall can collapse any time. Sharma said if the wall collapses, the drain water will submerge the basement of all residential blocks and it could also lead to short circuit in the power supply lines. Dirty sewage and industrial waste that flows in the Nallah through the Ghaziabad-Delhi border, passes through Sahibabad and on through Vaishali before flowing into the Yamuna river had submerged three basements of the Cloud 9. GMC chief engineer RK Mittal, after the incident told reporters the situation was under control. “We have surveyed the spot. The staff has been told to take adequate measures to stop drain water from entering other buildings. The developer has been told to construct broken wall of the drain immediately.” Angry residents spilled out against the illegal construction and the damaged road, the main artery connecting sectors 1,2 and 3 to the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway. The police resorted to beating up many curious onlookers who turned in large numbers when the Nallah wall collapsed due to the illegal digging by the builders. Anna Hazare’s Bhrastachar Virodhi Jan Andolan Nyas under the leadership of Ashok Tiwari, Kedar Mehta and Capt M K Tayal organized a demonstration against the administration and the builders. Many senior residents turned up – including Radhe Shyam Goswami, R D Pandey, Shamshad Saifi, Nihaluddin, Vijay Sharma, V P Tewari, Deepak Goswami, Lala Patwariji, Vipul Tayal, Nitin Rastogi, Prashant Bist, Bobby Rawat, Shambhu Nath, RS Yadav and Ram Kumar to name a few. “The embankment of Nallah crossing Vaishali Sector 1,2,3 in Ghaziabad collapsed on Sept 11, 2014, resulting in the silt full of chemical industrial waste and sewerage water entering the premises of Cloud 9 Apartments and Commercial complex being built by Aadi Best Consortium Pvt Ltd of Rishab builders. The road along the Nallah was also damaged. The water from the Nallah also damaged a local Gurudwara premises thereby hurting the sentiments of the people,” says Kedar Mehta, an active resident of Vaishali, who gave a highly emotive speech at the demonstration. In fact Mehta has been in forefront of exposing the builders. In a series of RTIs, he has brought the builder closer to the doors of administration. He first asked the Ghaziabad Development Authority if the builders could be legally given permission to cover the Nallah. The reply by the authority was most certainly no. Then Mehta trained his guns on the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam). The Corporation too replied in the negative. However, replying to another letter written by Mehta, the GDA said it had given permission to the builders to cover the Nallah. Another spirited resident of Vaishali, Ashok Tiwari has written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav seeking justice. “The said builders have ‘illegally’ covered the Nallah. The Ghaziabad Development Authority and the Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam have not given permission to the said builders to cover the Nallah with a concrete slab and use it for private purposes. “The covering of Nallah shows a deep nexus between the builders and officials, who use their arbitrary discretion and are permitting such blatant violation of laws of the land. Every action of the administration smacks of rampant corruption. “Local residents have repeatedly pointed out that the covering of Nallah and construction activities along the Nallah are a threat to the safety of the people. It also poses health hazards as cleaning of the Nallah cannot be undertaken properly. Hundreds of Vaishali residents are suffering from breathing and other diseases,” he wrote to the CM. In 2009, Tiwari had raised the issue of bad roads in Vaishali coupled with poor and erratic power supply. The administration slapped a case against him and Tiwari was sent to Dasna jail for the cause. “In Uttar Pradesh, it is difficult to raise public issues,” laments the real estate agent who is popularly known as Baba Tiwari. Sahibabad MLA Pt Amar Pal Sharma has raised the issue of illegal construction over the nallah in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He said the civic authorities have not cleaned the nallah for many years. The water from the nallah over flows making it a hell for the residents, he told the UP Assembly. And despite all this, the GMC has not done anything to remove the illegal constructions over the nallah. Last year, Vasundhra Zonal officer M P Singh had said that the GMC would take strict action against the builders. But on ground there is no action from the GMC or the district administration. However, the builder replied to a reporter's query. “We are doing everything including construction of the broken wall do the drain. We will also ensure that no further damage takes place to any other property. Teams of consultants and engineers have been deployed and they are working day and night to fix the problem. We have had the permission to cover the drain. And there is no violation of any bylaws,” Sanjeev Jain, Managing director of Cloud 9. According to the civic body the builder has excavated land beyond permissible limit during construction of the basement of an adjacent building. The excavation work weakened the wall of the drain and it collapsed when pressure of the water was high due to heavy rainfall on Thursday (Sept 11), wrote the Hindustan Times on September 13, 2014. According to Nav Bharat Times report on September 13, GDA and GMC officials admit that the developer did not build a 10-meter retainer wall and because of which the wall of the drain collapsed and the three-floor basements of the under construction building were filled with drain water. The same report also mentions that the residents have alleged that GMC and GDA officials colluded with the developers to illegally cover the Nallah and due to which the wall of the drain was weakened. The end result has been that the builders have been given a free hand. They have taken thing things under their control. The builders first pacified the gurudwara officials and agreed to repair the damaged bathroom and boundary wall. The civic agencies have not registered any police complaint for damaging government property – the Nallah nor the road. In fact the builder blocked the road leading to the National Highway, inconveniencing local residents. For the authorities, it is looking at the other side of heaven.