Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Some buyers of houses near proposed airport feel cheated' that was published in Newsband

Some buyers of houses near proposed airport feel cheated

By Dinesh Kamath

PANVEL: The very moment the public got the news that an international airport was to come up in Navi Mumbai, many of them booked their houses in complexes or high-rises around the area where airport was proposed to come up. The authorities had marked this area as Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) intensified zone. But these buyers of flats have not yet got the possession of their flats for the simple reason that the developers have not yet obtained occupancy certificate (OC) from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

When the AAI authorities were queried about this they pointed to the guidelines which prevents them from issuing an OC to any building falling within the radius of the traffic route of the NMIA and that too if the structure is not more than ground-plus-seven floors.

Now the problem is that some high-rise are failing to meet this guideline and hence people who have put in their life savings are still waiting to get possession of their homes. They fear that they may lose their hard-earned money.

Also a certain area near the proposed airport falls within the traffic route of the NMIA. So the people who have purchased the flat over here are also in trouble. The developers in this region had played a trick with the buyers. They lowered the rates of the houses in this region. This attracted the buyers to these spot. They purchased the houses here and now they find it difficult to get possession of the houses they have booked. The developers blame the Airport authorities for the delay in handing over the possession.

There are some residents who have booked the houses more than a year ago and they have not yet got possession of the flats in spite of the fact that their buildings adhere to AAI’s guidelines. In certain cases, the developer has not even started the construction work and hence people who have booked these houses cannot even think of getting possession. The developers just give the lame excuse that they have not yet got clearance from the AAI and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

The buyers of the flats over here have now realized that it’s extremely difficult to get possession of the flats which doesn’t stick to AAI’s prescribed standards.

Some buyers were of the opinion that CIDCO has the power to issue OC but when they clarified they realized that CIDCO was only a planning authority and that AAI was the controlling authority of all the airports and hence the buildings would have to stick to AAI’s guidelines for AAI to issue the OC.     

But the strange thing is that in spite of the fact that many buyers of the flats here are feeling cheated, there are other developers who go about promoting their new projects in the vicinity of airport.