A constructive lesson

KOCHI: Stories of persons cheated and trapped by the real estate mafia are growing day-by-day. In this context the attempt made by one particular association stands out as a lesson to reckon with. After the contractor stopped construction midway, the allottees of the Sreebhadra flats came together to complete the remaining construction work themselves.The Sreebhadra project began in 2006. There were 46 flats to be completed, ranging from Rs 15 lakh to about 24 lakh. The amount was to be either paid in three ins t a l lment s or together. But by 2008 the work came to a standstill, with the contractor claiming bankruptcy.Of the 46 flat allottees, ten had paid the complete amount by then.“In 2009, we had a meeting with the allottees and the contractor was called in.He said he had gone in for a joint venture and the partners had cheated him.So he couldn’t continue with the work. He returned all the documents of the building to us,” said Gopalakrishnan, the president of the Sreebhadra Allottees Association. The work was completed in various stages and the a m o u n t s were paid to the contractor by the allottees.The allottees formed a committee and it was decided that those who had balance amounts to be paid will be given the amount as decided by the committee.A few contractors were given the remaining work. It was decided that the work of the contractor would be monitored by the flat owners themselves. “The committee will act as a guarantor. The main idea behind the committee was that the work could not be given to a particular contractor. We decided that we would employ a few contractors for the flats collectively.Though the flat owners themselves were to deal with the contractors, the committee was to act as an assurance for the contractors that the money will be returned,” Gopalakrishnan said. But one thing which enabled the residents to take up the project was that the funds were not misappropriated by the contractor though the work was left incomplete.Nevertheless, the collective construction of the flats enabled the owners to finish the project without getting into legal tangles.