Amrapali budges after angry residents tag Dhoni on Twitter

A sustained Twitter campaign by residents of Amrapali Sapphire by tagging its brand ambassador M S Dhoni has prompted the builder into addressing long-standing concerns of the buyers.

Residents here live in perpetual fear as firefighting system is not in place and lifts are unmanned, posing severe risks especially for children and elderly in this multi-storeyed residential society. Residents vow to continue the campaign till the work is completed. Following the report, senior officials of Amrapali Group on Friday held a meeting and promised that “all pending work will be completed in the next 90 days and within the same period registry will also be done.” They requested the residents to stop the Twitter campaign using Dhoni.

Amrapali Sapphire project launched in Noida’s Sector 45 in May 2009 was termed as a premium project and Dhoni was allotted a penthouse by the group. In the operational phase-I project, civil and electrical works in many towers have not been completed. The electric panels are open, wires are hanging, and firefighting equipment, sprinklers and alarms are non-functional. There is no maintenance staff for lifts and no lift operators. The swimming pool has not been made operational even two years after residents started to move in here.

Atul Kumar, a senior official working with the Bharat Petroleum and a resident, rued: “Amrapali Group not only delayed the project by almost two years but failed to provide even basic facilities to the residents such as firefighting, risking the lives of over 800 families who live here. I wonder how the fire department has given an NOC to the project.”

Many towers which were promised three lifts have only two lifts installed and that too remain unattended. “There have been many instances of free fall of the lift but the builder has failed to take any action so far,” said another resident. 

Fed up with all this and after repeated requests failed to move the Amrapali management, the residents’ group took to social media and launched an aggressive campaign on Twitter highlighting how Dhoni’s brand name was at stake given the callousness shown by the builder.

As the Twitter handle was widely publicised, Dhoni’s personal handle @MSDhoni got attached with the hashtag #amrapalimisuseDhoni which forced the Amrapali top management to respond. 

“Amrapali, which had completely turned a blind eye towards the residents’ problems, was forced to come to the talking table,” R K Srivastava, a retired Naval officer living in the society said.

Officials of the real estate company gave assurances to residents that the group will complete all the pending works including firefighting, availability of elevators in all towers, allotment of earmarked car parking, electrical safety and other issues would be met within 90 days. The Amrapali management also claimed that due to UP government hiking registration charges from 5 per cent to 7 per cent, the process of registration would start in 45 days and completed within 90 days.