In the Red Apple Homez project located in Rajnagar Extension, Ghaziabad, about 800 buyers booked their flats during 2012-13. However, even after a grueling 13-year wait, they are still without their homes. Buyers accuse Manju J Homes India Ltd of deception and retaining their money without delivering the homes. The builder cites several reasons for delays, including GDA's delayed map approvals, NOC issues, GDA's failure to work on approach roads, supply chain issues, customer demands, and legal challenges.
The reasons for the delay notwithstanding, hundreds of buyers are weary of paying loan installments. Satish Kumar, a school teacher, laments, "In 2012, I scraped together $5,000 to book this home, which took 10 years to save. The rest had to be funded through a bank loan. All the money is gone, yet there’s no sign of our home. We're at a breaking point, dangerously close to losing hope."
Fellow buyer, Ashutosh Bhardwaj, shares, "I booked the flat in 2013, hoping to secure a property early in my career. By 2015, it became clear we had been defrauded. The stress led to paralysis in 2017. If not for my wife's job, sustaining life would be near impossible."
Source: aajtak
The Unfinished Project Becomes a Ruin
When flats were booked, construction was underway, but since work halted, the incomplete structure has been deteriorating, threatening to collapse any day.
Anshul Jain, president of the Red Apple Buyers Welfare Association, explains, "The project launched in 2012, and we booked the flats with high hopes. The builder promised dreams and facilitated loans from government banks. But shortly after, work stalled. We waited for several years before taking the case to NCLT, but the legal battle goes on with little hope of gaining our homes."
"When the case reached NCLT, no entity was willing to take over, so our association stepped up, and our plan received approval in June 2024. We were gearing up to restart work within a few months, but the previous builder appealed, intending to reclaim the project. Given their inaction for so long, it’s doubtful they can complete these houses now," Anshul adds.
Aajtak.in reached out to the builder of the Red Apple Project for comments. The builder elaborated on the delay reasons:
GDA’s long time to approve maps delayed the project start; maps applied in 2012, approved in 2016.
Environmental NOC delays, applied in 2012, obtained in 2017.
Lack of work on approach roads by GDA led to customers refusing payment.
A bounced check from a supplier led to NCLT, pushing the company toward insolvency; a stay was secured from NCALT.
The builder stated, "In 2019, we proposed a plan to the customer group (125 CoC members of the Red Apple Welfare Association), requesting a 2-year timeframe, but they rejected it, seeking to complete the project themselves, and secured NCLT court approval. Their plan was approved in June 2024, but it remains unimplemented to date."
Builder Prateek Jain clarifies, "110 FIRs have been filed against us across various police stations by the customer group, resulting in a 2-year imprisonment for us. We filed a petition with NCLT, pointing out flaws in RAWA's plan, which remains unexecuted after a year. Alongside our petition, 450 CoC members filed against the plan."
