Ramesh Chandra (Unitech Group) 1

HOUSING SCAM

UNITECH (a blue-chip, ISO-9002 certified one at that) has been getting away for years (at least ten in my personal experience) by committing every conceivable offence a real estate developer can possibly be accused of , and defrauding the public of thousands of crores every year – instead of providing them a home .

It is all too easy for Unitech’s CEO and MD to boast about how well their company is doing when they want to lure investors, and to portray themselves as victims of the recession whenever the press reports on Unitech’s deprived house-buyers rising up in arms. Yet, the company is launching new housing projects all the time, and either not starting work on older ones or stopping work midway. This is certainly not a recent phenomenon: Unitech has been illegally and unjustly raising ‘additional charges’ against my elderly father and me amounting to more than Rs. 9 lakhs (!) for a 12 lakh flat which we are still waiting for them to complete and hand over - it was scheduled for 2002 . This, despite our having paid Unitech 95% of the total cost of the incomplete flat as far back as 2002.

Only harsh punitive action against Unitech’s directors could act as a strong deterrent to their brazen corruption, and in some small way redeem thousands of victims whose cases against Unitech continue to pile up in consumer and civil courts, the MRTP Commission etc. And the thousands of others who suffer in silence because they see no solution in sight.