Nightmare homes

Singh is a property broker with a real-estate firm and his job is to aggressively sell “dream homes” — spacious flats inside a gated township that would have cricket stadiums,schools,petrol pumps,shopping malls,clubhouses and banquet halls. But with the Supreme Court ordering that the land acquired for building apartments in Noida Extension be restored to the farmers,Singh’s sales pitch has lost its steam. So these days,instead of presenting glossy brochures to families or taking them on site visits,he sits on his chair,fiddling with his mobile phone just to “kill time” — nodding off every now and then.

Till November last year,Singh,a 35-year-old broker (he calls himself “a business partner”) with Sang Real Estate Solutions,says Noida Extension witnessed a gold rush. It was when Noida Extension was being aggressively marketed as an affordable housing destination by several builders who had acquired land there from the Greater Noida Industrial Authority. The road leading to Noida Extension was lined with makeshift tents with canopies of striking red. Property brokers would sit here with brochures of housing projects and,from time to time,cars would stop to enquire.

Today,the traffic to Noida Extension has come down to a trickle and most of the makeshift tents have gone. In their place are bare bamboo poles,and the few property brokers who still bother to hang around wear bored,sleepy looks.

“We used to get about 20 visitors on weekdays and 50 on weekends,” says Singh,who would start his day every morning at 10 and wind up by 9 pm. These days,he starts late and finishes early,and gets about “four to five” visitors on weekdays,and about 16-17 visitors on a weekday. “Last week’s Supreme Court verdict that the land be returned to the villagers of Sahberi,which falls under Noida Extension,has had a dampening effect,” admits Singh.

Besides the number of customers,the kind of questions visitors ask has changed too. “Earlier,they’d ask regular questions,such as size of the flat,rate,loan details,etc. Now,the first thing they ask is,‘Is this project safe?’” he says.

“He says the builder’s project,which he deals in,does not fall in Sahberi village and — therefore — is not “affected”.

Encouraged by the Supreme Court order,10 other villages in Noida Extension,including Haibatpur,have filed petitions in the Allahabad High Court,challenging similar orders by the Greater Noida Authority.

“Many people are not aware of the projects that fall under Sahberi. They think the entire Noida Extension is in trouble,” he says. To allay clients’ fears,he has created a scrapbook of newspaper clippings on stories concerning the Sahberi case. He has even underlined the names of the seven projects that have been affected by the SC verdict.

“I show visitors these underlined names and say that Gaur City-1 and Gaur City-2,which are the projects my firm is dealing with,are not affected.” Both projects,he says,fall in Haibatpur village.

A car stops near the tent but the occupant,an elderly man,stays inside. Singh doesn’t bother getting up from his chair either. Instead,he sends two of his staffers — both Haibatpur villagers — who have been hired to “allay customers’ fears”.

“Is this project safe? I’ve heard that villagers of Haibatpur have also gone to court to get their land back. Is that true?” the man in the car asks.

One of the villagers answers: “Everyone has already received their compensation,so the project is safe. We are also from Haibatpur.”

The elderly man has a word of advice for them: “Try to put some sense into your fellow villagers,who are going to court?”

Sensing that the conversation is taking too long,Singh gets up from his chair and walks to the car. He says: “Sir,you can wait for a couple of days,till the verdict comes out.”

“Fine,I will get back to you,” says the man,before driving away.

Singh seems to have made peace with the situation. “We are not hard-selling anymore. If buyers are too fussy about safety,as they are these days,we just tell them to wait for some time or till the court decides,” he says,“In any case,people only make enquiries these days,and almost nobody follows it up.”

So,will he remove his tent too,like the others? “No,I have full faith in this dream housing destination,” he says,“Things will get better soon.”