THE REAL ESTATE MONITOR-1 ... The Ghost Town of Greater Noida!

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

"Uff, you're in the Ghost Town of Greater Noida!" quipped a friend recently when I invited her for lunch at my place.

Ghost Town of Greater Noida? Is that so? Depends on which part of GreNo you are living. 

Let me respond to the GTGN tag first: No, if I where I reside because my complex (Green Arch, Ek Murti Chowk) is any indication. Don't know much about the builder. But the 1500 flats (2-, 3- and 3-Plus BHKs) complex near to the landmark Cherry Country is almost packed. The neighboring Cherry County and Himalaya Pride do not convince me of the GTGN tag. 

Ditched by Antariksh Links promoters who promised to deliver our booking on the 14th floor of Tower A when we did book in 2012 before 2014-5, it unsurprised us. After all, the builder lobby is unabashedly crooked. The biggest black money generators, undisputably. Instead of tweedling one's already worn-out thumbs, we decided to buy a property close to Antariksh basically to keep a close tab on the happenings. Thus I came into Green Arch in October 2018 - hardly 5 km away from Antariksh.

As of the date (18 July 2021), a decade after booking, Antariksh remains a Ghost project. Strangely, the builder is busy with Tower G where a few families have already moved on. Many sick and tired of waiting and to save on EMI outgo plus rent dished out wherever they were residing earlier, opted to avail of whatever is ready, irrespective of which Tower flat they bought. Can't help it. 

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Why I Envy Birds?

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So, Antariksh fits the GTGN tag. Just one elevator functional. The power supply seems to be from the generator. Water supply limited. "Half a dozen families live now and tough to fathom what will happen if more move in," lamented an onsite Antariksh official a month ago during my periodic visits.

Let's move away from Antariksh. 

From my balcony, I view my surroundings. There are several residential blocks fully built, half done, just skeleton stuff. Even when I moved into Greater Noida in 2018, there was no activity. Remember, it is pre-Covid time. The excuse was Narendra Modi butchered the builders with his demonetization weapon. 

With black money evaporating, builders were left stranded and hence, no building activities. Oops! Not to be ignored is the fear of law and order in Uttar Pradesh in general. It is immaterial which political party is ruling. Just not these political edifices. After all, the bureaucracy is the Big Elephant. 

If anyone claims that no bribe was forcefully collected for registration at the District Collector office, it is 100% untruth. The touts are the conduit. Paperwork and registration are completed in a jiffy thanks to the greasing of corrupt bureaucracy. It is the Noida authority of Uttar Pradesh. It is a daily occurrence in every state. Corruption is rampant. Why? You cannot construct a residential block or industrial factory anywhere in India without a bribe. Politician-builder-bureaucracy cabal. 

Amrapali is a classic case. When I google search "Green Arch", the map denotes my block is in "Amrapali Dream Valley" when there was nothing "concrete". Greedy ex-Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador. 

Luckily, after the buyers of Amrapali grouped and took the issue to the legal fora, they got relief. Amrapali builders and officials are languishing in jail, having looted the public. Today, I notice Amrapali is getting ready with work in full swing. Dream Valley will not remain a dream valley for too long. But today, it is a ghost town. 

For my Fellow flat buyer Sharad Varma in Antariksh, this kind of builder cheating is a second experience. The Unitech flat he booked on the Taj Expressway near the International Race Track years ago is still in construction. This builder again belongs to the same Antariksh builder tribe. 

Hoping he would get possession much faster in Antariksh, he booked and now in a deep soup again, courtesy of his ex-colleague Ramesh Joshi, the broker. (He is an ex-colleague of mine too!) Just not him. Even Sharad's younger brother is in the same mess as Antariksh. 

So... my friend is not off the mark: the tag of Ghost Town of Greater Noida fits. I have to admit. 

Chalo, let us close this chapter for now. 

Will be back soon.

Cheers