Gurgaon: Residents of ROF Aalayas staged a protest outside the developer’s head office in Sector 44 on Saturday, alleging prolonged delays in handover, poor upkeep services and lack of transparency in financial matters.Protesters held placards and raised slogans, demanding clarity on the use of maintenance funds, including interest-free maintenance security (IFMS).“The developer has failed to address long-pending issues, especially regarding the handover and financial transparency. Even after the RWA was formed, our concerns have not been heard. A third-party audit of the assets was conducted, which showed several structural issues that need to be repaired,” RWA president Deepak Mongia said.He added that the developer tried to push the residents to sign the agreement or threatened to increase the maintenance charges. “Maintenance charges were recently hiked from around Rs 2,700 to nearly Rs 3,500 per month, without any improvement in services. On the contrary, facilities have deteriorated, and overall maintenance standards have declined,” he said.The association warned that if concerns remain unaddressed, residents will approach regulatory and legal forums, including Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority and consumer courts.Launched in 2013, the possession of the flats started in 2019. There are 832 flats in phase-1 of the project.Ranjan Panda, general secretary, said, “We have been consistently asking the developer to provide a clear account of the IFMS and maintenance funds, but there has been no transparency so far. As per norms, the IFMS amount collected from residents is meant to be handed over in full at the time of society handover, and it cannot be arbitrarily deducted.”He added that residents found that several expenses are being cited without proper justification. “For instance, maintenance contributions from several unsold or unregistered units have not been deposited, which the developer wants to deduct from the IFMS fund now. We have tried multiple times to resolve the matter, but there has been no constructive response,” he said.When contacted, the developer ROF Group said, “An MoU was executed earlier with the RWA to address concerns of handover-takeover in a mutually agreed manner. However, certain members appear to be driven by individual interests and have repeatedly deviated from and rescinded their earlier positions and understandings. The present protest is a calculated attempt to exert undue pressure on us in support of demands that are not aligned with the agreed framework. Notably, the gathering of 30-35 people included several people, including miscreants, whose credentials as residents could not be verified, and their conduct was disruptive, thereby creating an atmosphere of unrest.”
