600 homebuyers join hands, bid for completing a part of Jaypee project

NEW DELHI: Among the 20-odd bidders for insolvency-hit Jaypee Infratech's housing, hospital and road projects, including some top names from India Inc, there is an entity with no experience of construction and probably no documents to show its net worth -- a group of flat buyers from Kasa Isles who are pitching to take over some of the apartment blocks and construct it themselves.

Over 600 buyers from the 16 towers of the project in Noida's Sector 129 have come together under the umbrella of Kasa Isles Welfare Association and submitted their proposal to the resolution professional appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal.

Now, they have approached the insolvency resolution professional with a formal offer. Aman Behal, a core committee member, said the association will need around Rs 200 crore to complete the project and is hoping to scale up the membership to over 1,200 members. "Some money is due to the builder and everyone will have to pay a little more and we will be close to that number (Rs 200 crore)," he said. Some of the flat owners were promised the apartments in October 2013 but an update posted by the Jaypee in July showed that internal plaster and flooring was going on in four of the 16 towers. The rest will take more time as casting work was still on.

"The flats will take at least two more years for delivery and the penal interest itself will be more than 100%," said NS Dhingra, a retired professor and an active member of the association. In July, before the insolvency process began, the members had approached authorities in Noida and had one round of discussions with the Jaypee to take over the project and complete the remaining construction.

"If needed we will put in Rs 2-3 lakh each to save the lakhs that we have already invested and there is no certainty that we will get the flats," said Dhingra. Plus, there is penalty due from the builder for delayed delivery and the Supreme Court is also looking into the issue.

The association's proposal has met with skepticism as far as the court-appointed interim resolution professional and the lenders to Jaypee are concerned, who want to avoid splitting the assets as part of the resolution plan. "You can't have a situation where one person says I will build half the building," said a source.

The IRP will at best split the project into three parcels with the 27 real estate projects being one block, the expressway being the second and the hospital being the third. "We will look at the proposal which offers the best value. If needed, we can split it but if we get a better deal through a consolidated deal we will go with that," said a source. Behal expects a lot of bidders to drop out. "A lot of them are chasing the land parcels and some of them are only interested in the toll revenue from the expressway. We are the main stakeholder in the project," he said.

On Friday, the committee of creditors, which is working with the IRP decided to move to the next stage in the resolution process and issue and information memorandum based on which financial bids will be called, which is expected to take around three-four weeks.

In the meantime, a process consultant will be appointed to oversee the entire transaction and assess the bidders on various parameters. "Given the interest in Jaypee Infratech, it is unlikely that it will go into liquidation. A resolution looks imminent," said a source. This will surely comfort around 25,000 flat buyers who have been jittery about their future having invested their lifetime savings into the project.

New Delhi: Unauthorised parking site across Nehru Place metro station are doing brisk business: even though authorised lots have raised their rates four-fold in keeping with the NGT order, the "private" ones continue to charge just Rs 20 per hour. Obviously, they are finding favour with most people.

"We hiked the rates to Rs 80 for cars and Rs 40 for bikes on November 10. It resulted in an over 70% fall in our business. Since then, we have decided to charge only Rs 20/hour for both cars and bikes," said an attendant. Mukesh Kumar, a guard stationed at a DMRC parking lot at Nehru Place, said before November 9, the two metro sites saw at least 250 cars and 300 bikes daily. Over the past three days, there was a 50% fall in the number of vehicles, he said.

The story is similar, whether it's Sant Nagar, East of Kailash or Connaught Place. A visit to Connaught Place on Sunday suggested that the attempt to discourage use of private vehicles has not been very effective.

"The number of vehicles at our parking lots has decreased even as more and more people are risking parking their vehicles in tow-away zones," said Sunil Kumar, an attendant at an NDMC parking lot in CP. The outer and inner circles were brimming with personal cars in no-parking zones.

Things weren't much different at Sarojini Market either. But as the rush was huge, it being a Sunday, the NDMC parking lots were full too - despite charging Rs 80 an hour. Many motorists were still not aware of the hiked fee and were involved in heated arguments with attendants.

New Delhi: Indian Medical Association has blamed poor doctor-patient ratio for less time spent in consultation with patients. A recent study showed primary care consultants in India spent only about two minutes with patients compared to 20 minutes spent by physicians in western countries.

IMA president Dr K K Aggarwal said overload of patients, particularly in public hospitals, is a major factor for the less time spent with patients. "We are going to give a presentation on November 20 to a parliamentary committee on the need for medical reforms. The issue of skewered doctor-patient ratio is on top of the agenda," Dr Aggarwal said. He added the 'family doctor' concept must return for better services at primary level.

IMA said burnout among doctors is rampant, and it affects both the doctors and patients adversely. "A doctor suffering from this condition may lack empathy towards the patients or even have an impaired judgement," said an official, adding that such cases are more common in female doctors because of their demand at both work and home.

New Delhi: A 32-year-old woman has alleged that she was raped as a minor by a "godman" at his ashram in 2000 in Rohini. DCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal said an FIR had been registered and the case handed over to the district investigation unit. The accused is absconding.

Police said the woman approached them at Vijay Vihar station, claiming that the man, who used to conduct meditation classes at an ashram in Rohini, raped her 17 years ago. The woman was a minor at the time.

The woman told cops that she used to go to the ashram with her father, who is a devotee of the accused "godman". One day, the "godman" allegedly took her to a room after the class was over and raped her. He also threatened her not to tell anyone about the incident.

Police said the accused had stopped going to the ashram eight years ago and his current whereabouts were being ascertained. The woman's version of the events is also being probed and other members of the ashram are being questioned to ascertain more facts about the case.