Ranga Reddy: Westend Greens residents lodge police complaint against 'Countryside Realtors' for negligence, harassment

Hyderabad: Owners and Residents of Westend Greens, located in Mokila of Ranga Reddy district have filed a complaint with the Cyberabad police for alleged negligence and intimidation from the builder.

In their complaint, the owners and residents said that on December 26, 2023 the builder had stopped entry of maintenance and personal help staff of the owners and residents from entering the society.

Westend Greens is a villa gated community project of 117 proposed villas constructed by Countryside Realtors India Pvt. Ltd, represented by two of its first directors KN Simha and Masood Hasan.

The owners and residents alleged that they were harassed by the builder who even intimidated the residents and their personal workers by deploying his security and bouncers. “We are appealing to the builder to arrange day-to-day security and maintenance of the society properly as there are ten plus families residing. The project should be completed within six months with all promised amenities as per the buyer’s agreement and as per the project brochure published during the sale process,” the residents said.

The other concerns of the owners and residents included a dedicated on-site project manager from the builder who is responsible and accountable for unfinished villas constructions and amenities development and in case the builder continued to be non-responsive or unable to complete the project in the stipulated time, the project should be completed by auctioning the 20 Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) mortgage plots.

Issues with the builder:

Sharing the reasons for taking the extreme step, one of the residents alleged that the builder does not have any office or communication address now. The last known office address is closed. The last known phone numbers are never picked up. “At very rare times, we could reach the builder’s representative Saurabh Pandey and share our messages/requests/letters, but we never get any response back. There was an email customercare@westendgreens.com which was used in the past to do one-way communication, but has also stopped working. Collectively as an owners' group and as individual owners, we have sent 100 plus emails or phone calls in the past but no response from the builder and from “Countryside Realtors India Pvt. Ltd.” the residents said.

Highlighting their plights, the residents said that women and children were facing severe hardships due to unavailability of security guards. Owners and personal domestic help staff are stopped at the gate and harassed many times. Sometimes security guards are found taking unauthorised pictures and videos of the residents. Perimeter walls were broken at many places and solar fencing is nonfunctional, due to this wild animals including snakes and street dogs enter and pose a threat to playing kids.

Another resident said that there are no maintenance teams deployed for the project. Sometimes, some ad-hoc workers were deployed by the builders and pictures were taken to create a false impression of maintenance being done. “There is no maintenance or security contract established with any agency. For the last few months, we have been verbally asked to give cash for the maintenance with no demand letter or receipts,” he said and added that residents were asked for cash payments for the last two years of maintenance including GST.

The residents also said that a demand letter was sent through email to them without any payment mode or a bank account reflected in it. The issued payment receipts did not have any GST number in it and were not signed by its directors. "We have sent several letters in this regard, but no response has been received. Moreover, from time to time builders deploys bouncers at security gates who take unauthorised pictures and intimidate and harass residents," the residents said.

Another major issue haunting the owners and residents was abnormal delay in project completion. For the last 12 years, the project was not even completed 30 percent. The Cyberabad police acknowledged the complaint filed by the owners and residents of Westend Greens, located in Mokila of Ranga Reddy district. The police launched an inquiry into the matter.