Apt.owners unite to fight developers

The message appears on the bottom of this video image, of  NDTV Profit show telecast on the launch of the Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (FAOA).
Participants included FAOA vice-president, Mr Gautam Gulati; and Sand Legal Service M D, Mr Sai Chandravardhan.
Points that emerged in their discussion:
1) Selling open-space parking lots by developers is a huge scandal;
2) Court orders, even Supreme Court directive, have been ignored by real estate developers;
3) Developers throw to the winds the commitments they make to the authorities while seeking permission to build;
4) Open space parking lots are sold  openly, and blatantly. And developers have been getting away with it;
5) In confronting developers apartment owners associations have not much hope without a) their unity at all India level, b) class-action by a critical mass of apt.owners in such big numbers that courts are driven to action, and c) creation of an effective regulatory body.
6) Uniform regulation on a national level difficult accomplish because real-estate comes under state govt. jurisdiction.
7) Legislation governing real-estate in 8 states is based on the Maharashtra apartment ownership Act of 1963.
Apartment owners associations find themselves on a weak wicket because:
a) Ever increasing demand for housing; and heightened anxiety among apartment owners to take possession, because of inordinate delay in delivery by developers;
b) Developers, in most cases,  get bookings from buyers within days of announcing a new  housing  project,  when not even a single document is ready.
c) Many apt. owners go in for purchase even though they are well aware that developer cannot legally  sell open-space as parking lot.
d) Apartment  buyers act individually  at the time of booking, signing of agreements.
e) Apartment owners association get formed only during occupancy of flats.
As the panelists viewed it, the way to go :
1) Consolidation of apartment owners association at all-India level - FAOA has till date only 15 associations as members.
2) Building database by FAOA for  publicising  the track-record of various developers for the benefit of  intending apartment buyers..
3) A common platform of associations to create awareness among apartment buyers of their rights.
4) Filing class-action litigation..

Trash heaps, a blot on OMR-ECR landscape

 None of the 50 village panchayats  under  Tirupporur Panchayat Union have addressed the problem of solid  waste management, says a report in The Hindu. Absence of landfill sites, and lack of manpower plus

 infrastructure to handle garbage disposal compund the problem.

 Upshot is an unseemly mushrooming of roadside scrap heaps along OMR, such as this one, which has come up bang in front of Mantri Synergy.. Real estate developers and neighbourhood residents, far from exploring a solution, contribute to the garbage dump. Padur panchayat couldn't care less about the mounting trash heap on our roadside.
Real estate developers  have failed the community insofar as they neither put in place effective  waste collection and sewage disposal within their complex, nor gave much thought to an integrated approach to waste and sewage disposal problem  in the Padur-Kelambakkam area. Developers of Mantri Synergy,  who first planned for garbage chute system, dropped the idea,  but failed to come up with a credible waste management system to serve our 750-unit residential complex. Our suggestion for vermicompost plant was ignored, citing lack of space. Mantri marketing people appeared more interested in selling every available sq.ft. of open area as car parking slots.
Mantri apartment owners association is now lumbered with the waste disposal problem. Executive committee could consider household biogas units for conveting kitchen waste into cooking gas. Its feasibility could be examined. We could take a trip to in Venus Colony, Alwarpet, where apartment owners association has been working for the past 5 years a system of waste management that even gives them marginal returns from sale of organic manure.
Household biogas units would however not address the wider issue of solid waste management. Residents associations of Mantri's, X-S Real, Rosedale, the Ouranya Bay, the Akshyaya and other communities would need to come together, along with Padur panchayat, to draw up a joint waste collection and disposal strategy.
The civic infrastructure - waste and sewage disposal, and water supply - has become too big and serious an issue to be left for Panchayat alone to tackle. Mutual co-operation and co-ordiantion among the gated communities, and with Padur panchayat are essential for our common welfare.
And then there is scope for the Ugly Indian type of community work, if only public-spirited residents from all neighbourhood  communities can club-up to make it happen.
Waste disposal at kalashetra, Thiruvanmiyur

Tapping Wind/solar power on OMR

A roof-top windmill fitted on Hindustan University campus

 Those of us in Mantri Synergy, and neighbouring Ouranya Bay, Victoria Towers or Bella Tuscany and other OMR communities don't need experts to say we come under 'a wind zone'. We experience it. We also know big wind turbines over 100 metres in height wouldn't work in our place. We could try micro wind turbines, say 15-metre tall, as they plan to do, for powering street lights on ECR. Chennai Corporation is reported to have commissioned a study for tapping wind/solar energy with hybrid models.

 Residents asociations on OMR could put their heads together to explore possibilities for putting in place hybrid micro systems for tapping wind/solar power. So that we could make wind/solar powered common area a reality at Mantri Synergy in two or three years from now.

 Experts reckon that effective solution to energy problem has to be found ,not in the availability of technology, but in reducing its expense and widening it accessibility. The proposed wind/solar powered street-lighting pilot project in Sholinganallur and some parts of ECR could serve as model for us to adopt in Mantri and other communities. Bringing down the cost is a challenge. Initial capital cost is high, but subsidy is available from the central and state govts. OMR residents association (an umbrella body of neighbourhood member associations of apartment owners) could be set up to look into subsidy options and also to work on a model project report for community level renewable energy programme.

 By way of reference material I would like you to watch these video talks: 1) Bunkar Roy on his 'barefoot movement' - 19.08 mins. It is a fascinating study on how a village school in Rajasthan has trained rural women to be solar electrical engineers for electrification of villages, not only in Rajasthan, but also in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and other developing countries from where even unlettered grandmas received technician training for six months in Bunkar Roy's barefoot college.
2) MIT professor Donald Sadoway on the missing link to renewable energy - 15 mins. video talk. He is into developing battery for grid-level storage of wind/solar energy, at the lowest possible cost. The focus of Prof.Sadoway's invention is in bringing down the cost of huge storage battery.

 The photo at the top of this post signifies 'a tip of the wind turbine', to coin a phrase, (like 'tip of an iceberg'), of the work that might well be in process at the university engineering workshop. We could tap their experience/expertise in developing a wind/solar power model for Mantri Synergy.

Mantri Association AGM

First General Body Meeting (After the process of registration of the Association) is scheduled for Sunday, April 1, at 11:00 am in the club house.
Agenda
1.Enrollment of owners of the flat as members of the association (The process of enrollment will start at 9:00am on 01.04.2012). The flat owners are requested to bring the proof of ownership for the flat to be enclosed with the enrolment form. Those who are not in the position to attend the meeting in person can authorize any of his blood relations to attend on his behalf or proxy to a person in writing to attend the meeting on their behalf.
2.To elect or select a set of office bearers to the association. If there are more than one contestant for any post election process will be held by secret ballet. The election process to be held, if any, will be held by a body other than the residents (i.e. by Propcare in the present juncture).
3.To adopt the bylaws and the MOA without any changes. Any change/modification can be taken up at the next General Body Meeting, which will be called for by the elected office bearers.
Ad hoc committee secretary, Mr.Ardhendu Chakraborti, has e-mailed AGM announcement to all Mantri Synergy flat owners.

Tapping solar power at Mantri's, OMR

RamKumar (H-Block) posted this photo in his Facebook page. It is about using the space on the Narmada Canal,Gujarat,for putting up solar panels.

Electing far-sighted apartment owners to helm Mantri Synergy association would help us explore possibilities for creating space to tap solar power within our complex.

Let's put it on YouTube

We didn't cover ourselves with glory at a meeting of Mantri apartment owners on Christmas Day. Shouts,counter-shouting, and a penchant for over-staying their welcome, on the part of those who grabbed the floor characterized much of the proceedings. It is nobody's case that the voice of dissent should go unheard. What we witnessed on Sunday was nothing short of a highjack of the proceedings, reducing the organising committee to be mute spectators.
At one stage we heard someone from the back singing out, 'we are not in parliament'. This brought us all to our senses, brought down tempers,and generally lowered the decibel level in the hall. If I had iPhone, I would not have been able to resist the temptation to video the proceedings for upload in YouTube.
Someone ought to do this the next time. Hopefullly, this would have a moderating effect on the way we conduct our business. Maybe no other residents association has done this - YouTube proceedings.Can anyone come up with a reason why we shouldn't give it a shot at Mantri's ? To ensure orderly proceedings, and in the interest of transparency. Non-resident apartment owners might welcome such move;it would enable them to keep track of developments at Mantri Synergy meetings.