Gurgaon: Residents of Godrej Oasis in Sector 88A staged a protest on Saturday against a steep hike in common area maintenance (CAM) charges, alleging poor maintenance services, lack of financial transparency, delays in resolving long-pending society issues and non-payment of salaries to housekeeping staff. Residents said they have been raising concerns with the developer for several months through emails and meetings but have received no satisfactory resolution.According to them, the CAM charges were increased from around Rs 4.79 per square foot to Rs 6.58 per square foot, excluding 18% GST. They alleged that the hike was imposed without any detailed justification or consultation with residents.On Saturday, the housekeeping services were disrupted in the society after sanitation workers stopped work over unpaid salaries. A group of residents gathered outside the management office and placed garbage there as part of the protest to highlight the deteriorating situation. “We are paying substantially higher maintenance charges, but the quality of services has only deteriorated. We repeatedly sought a detailed breakup of expenses and audited financial records to understand the reason behind the increase, but no satisfactory explanation has been provided,” said Rajinikanth Patri, general secretary of the residents’ association.Patri alleged that the developer has not completed the handover process to the RWA despite the OC being granted nearly seven years ago.Moreover, recurring issues related to housekeeping, horticulture, cleanliness and infrastructure have remained unresolved for months. Residents further alleged that housekeeping and security personnel have frequently faced delays in receiving salaries, resulting in repeated strikes over the past year.“The quality of services has declined significantly. Complaints related to cleaning, landscaping and maintenance continue to remain pending. At the same time, residents are being asked to pay even more charges. Garbage collection came to a halt on Saturday after housekeeping workers stopped work over pending salaries,” said Sachin Saxena, a resident.They demanded rollback of the CAM hike, transparency in financial accounts, timely payment to staff, improved maintenance services and immediate completion of the society’s handover to the RWA.Residents further raised concerns over water quality in the society. They claimed the society continues to depend on borewell water with high total dissolved solids (TDS), making it unsuitable for domestic use. “The borewell water has a TDS level of nearly 1,800 and is often muddied. Although an RO plant has been installed, it is not functioning effectively because of poor maintenance. Even after several years, no canal water supply connection has been obtained from authorities,” another resident said.When contacted, the spokesperson for Godrej Living said, “There has been an industry-wide increase in CAM charges on account of an increase in minimum wage rates in Haryana and inflation over the years. However, residents at Godrej Oasis have not been paying the CAM required for the society’s maintenance, and they have not come forward to take over the society. While Godrej Living has been trying to provide the best services even with its own funding, and also inviting RWA to take the handover of operations from the developer, the residents have been eluding the necessary payments or assuming responsibility through takeover of society operations. We remain committed to providing best services at ongoing industry rates and standards.”
