Tempers flared on Sunday afternoon as around a dozen residents of ROF Alante in Gurgaon’s Sector 108, located near the Dwarka Expressway, reached the developer’s office. The reason behind the gathering — the lack of an approach road leading to the main entrance of their society.
The residents of ROF Alante, built under the Haryana Affordable Housing Policy, blamed the builder for the situation. “How were the Occupancy Certificate (OC) and licences issued when the road was still incomplete? They (builder) should have sorted it out before handing us possession of the flats. Now, we are suffering…,” homeowner Shivani Thusoo told The Indian Express.
The builder had since January started offering possession of units to the owners.
Builder ROF (Ramada Group), however, claimed the project has received the OC following due process and put the onus on the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to get the road fixed.
According to jamabandi (record of land rights) documents, and a letter issued by the concerned Naib Tehsildar dated June 4, the full stretch of the approach road is a revenue road — recorded in official records as belonging to the Haryana government — since at least 2023-24.
The kuccha road leading to the rear entrance. (Express photo by Abhimanyu Hazarika)
The Department of Town and Country Planning had granted a housing licence to the ROF with an understanding that the approach road would be taken over and maintained by the builder once the civic body (MCG) had done the necessary demarcations, the realtor claimed. These demarcations, not yet complete, pertain to the road being marked with pillars and signboards separating it from the surrounding land owned by villagers, said ROF.
A visit to the site by The Indian Express revealed the problem.
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The very end of the 24m approach road is dug up. Also, with the society located around 10 feet above the ground level, no vehicle can enter what was supposed to be the society’s main entrance due to the dug-up area.
With around 60 of the 728 flats in the society already occupied, the builder has now made a temporary kuccha road at the rear gate of the complex for vehicles to enter.
According to ROF, people from nearby villages, who have given up land for the project, are damaging the road in the hope of receiving more compensation.
Maintaining that MCG and not ROF owns the approach road, Alok Srivastava, Head of Facilities and Possessions at ROF, said, “A few miscreants, who also happen to be landowners, have illegally dug up the road that provides access to the society.”
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“Their aim is to block the entry and exit to the society in an attempt to blackmail us with their demands for more compensation. Our staff had been threatened with violence if they tried to restore the damaged road… We have filed complaints with the police, including the DCP (West), and will take legal action,” he added.
“We have already completed all internal infrastructure works, based on which the OC was granted. All essential services within the society are in place. Remaining work related to external infrastructure development is yet to be completed due to illegal digging of the road,” Srivastava said. He added that the company is working with the local police and the MCG to restore the road soon.
A resident of ROF Alante said that a local from the nearby Dharampur village was damaging the road. “The villager, with the help of his contacts, manages to dig up the road within minutes of it being fixed. The government and the civic body are not being able to do anything about it. The unfinished road is impacting other facilities here, like shops…,” the resident said.
The resident claimed that last Tuesday, the homeowners had met civic officials. “They said they will appoint a duty magistrate and get the road constructed. They will also speak with the affected villagers within 10 days when we met them last Tuesday.” A MCG official said an internal meeting was held at the civic body in this regard on Tuesday as well.
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Thusoo, who had bought a flat at the society for Rs 30 lakh, said the society does not have permanent electricity and water connections. “As there is no approach road, school buses cannot enter the society. How will students study once more families move in? Also, they are charging exorbitant maintenance amounts despite it being an affordable housing project.”
When asked, an official managing Alante’s day-to-day affairs said that electricity and water is being provided 24×7 through DG sets and tankers, respectively. “Only money amounting to operational expenses is being collected as a charge on a cost basis. Moreover, at least three school buses come to the back gate,” the official added.
The kuccha road leading to the rear entrance. (Express photo by Abhimanyu Hazarika)