Many senior citizens in Bengaluru claim they have been left in the lurch after Tata Housing allegedly defaulted on their promise. These are all buyers in a Tata Value Homes housing project titled Tata Riva, situated in Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural district. While 80 apartments have been sold to buyers, there are more than a hundred apartments left to be sold with some of them still in the construction phase.
Tata Riva has 1 and 2 BHKs, and the apartments were sold as assisted living facilities for the elderly with the promise of an exclusive senior citizens enclave and assisted living services. The premiere facilities were supposed to be tailored for seniors, who were promised round the clock medical facilities and a running kitchen.
The buyers now allege that the builder is washing their hands off the promises of assisted living, and are forming a common apartment association with members of regular apartments built in the same plot. Disappointed with the service and alleged apathy of the company management, some of the buyers have approached the court seeking relief. These litigants have prayed before a a local court to issue an interim injunction on the builder withdrawing from the management of the apartment complex, and forming an Apartment Association. The Nelamangala Civil Court has asked Tata Housing to file their response to the allegations by August 1.
“Since it was a Tata project, people like me and many others had invested our hard-earned money with great expectations, paying 30% more for the extra facilities. But now we’re struggling because of the apathy of the group. We have been conned by a group as big as the Tatas,” said Janaki Ramakrishnan, who bought an apartment for her parents, “Even today, when I go there none of the amenities that were promised are there. My parents, both over 80, are staying with me or my brother but not everybody is as fortunate. Some of their children live outside India and they are forced to stay there.” Janaki is also one of the litigants against the Tatas.
Some residents allege that the builder has not given them their ownership documents.
Due to the non-availability of the promised amenities for senior citizens, many buyers are now opting to stay elsewhere. Sixty eight-year-old Sanjay (name changed) said attempts to reach the Tata Housing MD and other higher officials have not been positive.
“We feel cheated by Tata. Many of us, including me, had blindly trusted the brochure thinking since it’s Tata everything will be fulfilled,” Sanjay said.
Among the promises was a medical centre within the apartment complex equipped with all necessary infrastructure, including ICU facilities and an ambulance. “Though the builder claims the medical centre is working, it is totally defunct,” Sanjay alleged, “We have paid more than Rs 4 lakh for five years and there is nothing, no senior doctors. There is a small dingy room and no stabilisation facility. So people are forced to go outside for any medical need.”
Another facility promised by the Tatas in this project was a ‘running kitchen’ for the seniors, but the buyers claim it is also struggling to meet the requirements.
When asked to comment, Tata Housing Managing Director, Sanjay Dutt, categorically refused.
Incidentally, this is not the first allegation against Tata’s real estate arm. The Haryana government’s Town and Country Planning Act had started proceedings against one of its projects in mid-2017. In another case, Tata Value Homes was asked by a Chennai consumer court to pay Rs 8.9 lakh to one of its customers in July 2018.