No sign of construction, flat buyers asked to cough up penalties by tainted realtor

In a bizarre turn of events, people who have booked flats, whose construction is yet to start, have been slapped with a penalty for not paying installments on time. The hapless buyers had booked flats at Lavanya, 16-storeyed towers, that are supposed to come up next to the Kolkata West International City (KWIC) of Universal Success Enterprise (USE) and owned by controversial builder Prasoon Mukherjee. 

The proposed apartment was earlier known as Kolkata West Heights. Six towers each 16-storeyed are to be constructed. The booking started on May 7, 2010, and the flats were to be handed over to the buyers within three years. 

Interestingly, the same builder is likely to set up a township in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas and has held discussions with state Finance Minister Amit Mitra and senior officials of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and state industries department regarding the new project.

Jaswant Singh, a businessman dealing in transport had booked a flat at Lavanya on May 7, 2010. The area of the proposed flat is 1247 square feet. In October 2010, Singh received a letter from the builder stating that the area of the flat had gone up to 1388 square feet and he would have to pay for the additional area. On top of that, he was asked to pay Rs 36,000 as penalty as he did not pay the installment on time. “I have paid Rs 9 lakh till date and no one knows when the flat will be completed,” said Singh.

The construction has not yet started and even if it is taken up on a war footing it will take at least three years to complete. Of the six towers, 80 flats spread over two towers have been booked. Abdul Rashid and his relatives had booked four flats with a plan to stay together. “We really do not know whether we will get our flats ready in our lifetime. I thought that it will be good to stay with my relatives together and so we have booked four flats. Now, the project has spelt misery for us.”

It may be mentioned that the construction of 400 row houses in Mukherjee’s Kolkata West International City has not been completed yet. The construction began in 2006, a decade ago. 

Amitava Sinha, who stays in Australia, said that “it is unfortunate that the builder has been spared. It is impossible for a buyer to wait for 10 years to get his flat ready when more than 80% payment has been made.

Abhay Upadhya, president KWIC Buyers Welfare Association said, “In Gurgaon and Noida, the administration is holding meeting with buyers and builders to expedite completion of projects. Such an exercise is required here. Mukherjee should be asked to complete construction of KWIC before he starts other projects in Bengal.”