Editor’s Note: After we received this story, we talked to Raheja Developers Pvt. Ltd’s Mr. Harinder Dhillon (GM – Marketing, 9971091903) has given us the following response.

– Start of Rahejas Response —

We are a customer oriented company & focus not only on the quality aspect but also track the time overrun. Excavation work at the Atharva site in Sector 109, Gurgaon is already complete in all respects. We are the only developers in the new Gurgaon master-plan who have commenced construction activity in the new master-plan sectors. As construction at the site is a great concern for our esteemed customers who have invested their hard earned money to us, we do value their eagerness & do assure that during the project execution, they are most welcome to see the quality and efforts as keen developers we put in our projects. We would request all our customers to keep faith in our organization and also in our projects, which will blossom into major landmarks in the city in the times to come. Our esteemed customers are most welcome to visit the project site now as well as in the times to come to see the progress for themselves.

Also, bank disbursements for Vedaanta commenced six months back by Bank of Baroda, PNB, Axis Bank, HDFC, LIC Housing Finance & PNB Housing Finance. For Navodaya, bank disbursements have already commenced three months back from Bank of Baroda as well as Union Bank of India. For Atharva, Federal Bank is disbursing down payment cases as well as installment payment cases.

The installment payment plans for all our projects are very much construction linked in nature. The application forms as well as agreement to sell installment payment plan section are testimony to the same.

We have already received the in-principal approval on the Atharva building plans & the copy of the minutes of the meeting of Building Plan Approval Committee held under the chairmanship of Sh. Dhare Singh, CTP, Haryana has been scanned for anyone’s reference.

The first page of the minutes is given below.

Click on the image to ENLARGE

The page of the minutes relevant to Atharva is given below

Click on the above image to ENLARGE.

The paragraph relevant to Raheja Atharva is

And the final line says that “the committee decided to approve the building plans subject to corrections and submission from NOC from the Airport Authority of India” …

– END of Rahejas Response —-

The submission that our website received is reproduced below.

Hello,

We have invested in Raheja Developers residential project Raheja Atharva in Sector 109, and the following is our story. We would appreciate it if you could help us resolve some of the issues mentioned below.

A legal notice has been served to Mr. Navin Raheja, Managing Director of Raheja Developers Pvt Ltd and is attached below.

Page 1 of legal notice to Mr. Navin Raheja of Raheja Developers Pvt Ltd. Click on image to ENLARGE

Page 2 of legal notice to Mr. Navin Raheja of Raheja Developers Pvt Ltd. Click on image to ENLARGE

In essence the story is as follows:

We received letter from Rahejas in Aug/Sept 2008 that stated “there have been favorable developments at Atharva. The Building plans have been approved after licence by the Director, Town & Country Planning, Haryana. The bhoomi Pujan was solemnized on 29th July 2008.” This was false and the building plans have NOT yet been approved by the DTCP. The scan of the letter is below:

The full scan of the letter can be seen below:

Click on image to ENLARGE

Even though the plans had not been been approved, Rahejas as written in the 2nd page of the same Bhoomi Pujan letter, they went ahead and created the Flat-Buyers Agreement – which are already in possession of some of the buyers. How can a buyer agreement be made when the plans have not yet even been approved? Here is the page 2 of the letter telling about the Bhoomi Pujan

Click on image to ENLARGE

Now we are being pressured by Rahejas to make payments on this project. Coercion via sms, calls, demand notes etc is being made to buyers even though the company had agreed that it would not demand further payments till banks had approved and started disbursing loans. As plans have not yet been approved, and requisite papers have not been submitted to banks, no bank – except a minor one – are disbursing any loans. Despite this the company is threatening to impose interest on “late payments” if payments are not immediately made. And as a way out Rahejas is forcing people with longstanding relations with other banks to take their loans from the only bank – Kerala based Federal Bank – that is disbursing loans.

This only bank that is disbursing loans on Raheja Atharva even without the approval of the Building Plans of the Atharva project is Federal bank. And there is news in the market that the money collected in early payments was diverted to pay costs towards the land for Atharva – as the legal notice presented earlier state, it is almost sure that Rs 20,33,78,493 of the money that we paid was later used to pay for the land on which Atharva is to be built.

Accusations are flying, and now buyers in Projects like Raheja Vedaanta & Raheja Navodaya are also protesting that money is being demanded from them while there is no discernible progress on ground.

Please help us clarify what the actual situation is as we are getting very worried about the safety of our investments, and also the fact that we are being almost daily pressured by Rahejas to make more payments to them.

The payment plan has 3 columns – time linked schedule, a construction linked schedule, and the payment due. Even though the project as sold on basis that it is construction linked (column 2), it is now being claimed that it is actually time-linked (i.e column 1). This has caused major confusion amongst the owners who are gathering in force to dispute these claims.

We are not able to get satisfactory answers from the builder Raheja Developers ( telephone 011 406 11111) and would appreciate if other visitors on this forum can pool together their knowledge and experience to help us cope with this situation where our lifetime earnings are at risk.

Please share your experience on this forum via comments, or email to Shri Surinder Kumar Bangia bangia_sk AT hotmail.com who has filed the legal notice, or email to qubrex AT gmail.com who help run this website.

Thank you.

Have you invested in another of Rahejas project called Atharva, or thinking about it? Looking forward to the dream home in an excellent location, or to a property that is going to yield good investment returns. Then this website is for you …

The journey to getting possession of your apartment in Raheja Atharva is going to be long, and till we get there http://rahejaatharva.qubrex.org is your place to discuss issues, observations, and pose any questions to the builder (Raheja Developers) or other owners/investors in the apartment complex.

Brought to you by the same team which runs www.GurgaonScoop.com and in Association with Qubrex – QuBit Real Estate eXchange, this website is intended for an objective and detailed discussion about Raheja Atharva ….

Details at http://rahejaatharva.qubrex.org

Birds eye view of Raheja Srishti in Sector 109, Gurgaon

Perspective view of the G+19 Gateway Towers in Raheja Srishti

Perspective view of the Terraced Low Rise Apartments in Raheja Srishti

Mr Navin Raheja at the Delhi Gymkhana Club soft-launching the latest residential project

Mr Navin Raheja, Managing Director of Raheja Developers Pvt. Ltd., soft-launched the latest project “Raheja Srishti, Gurgaon, Sector 109″ at the Delhi Gymkhana Club on September 17, 2008.

Mr. Raheja also announced attractive discounts for early expression of interest, and there is money to be earned/saved if you call us Qubrex (9811987371, 9871670006, 9810576028) before September 28th ….

The full scale launch is expected on September 29, 2008, the first day of the navratras.

Click on the flags to see the name of the project, and click on the controls + – <- -> on GMap (Google Maps) above to see the various other builders and their projects in the vicinity of the Raheja Srishti project. One of the biggest projects (approx 250 acres now) is a project between Sobha Developers & Chintels International.

An interview of Mr. Prashant Soloman of the Chintels Group was recently featured in the Indian Express here.
Conversations with people who have interviewed with Sobha Developers recently for jobs, and also with brokers whom Sobha has contacted for joining their dealers network indicates that the prices is going to be around Rs 4500 psf.

The project of Mahindra Lifespaces is expected to be priced around Rs 3000 to Rs 3200 psf.

Rahejas also have a project Raheja Atharva near the site for Raheja Srishti, and it was launched in December 2007 at the price of Rs 2875 psf. It is now sold out.

An article covering the regions around sector 109 was recently published in the Indian Express Real Estate section here.

Click on the image above to see the various other builders and their projects in the vicinity of the Raheja Srishti project. One of the biggest projects (approx 250 acres now) is a project between Sobha Developers & Chintels International.

An interview of Mr. Prashant Soloman of the Chintels Group was recently featured in the Indian Express here.
Conversations with people who have interviewed with Sobha Developers recently for jobs, and also with brokers whom Sobha has contacted for joining their dealers network indicates that the prices is going to be around Rs 4500 psf.

The project of Mahindra Lifespaces is expected to be priced around Rs 3000 to Rs 3200 psf.

Rahejas also have a project Raheja Atharva near the site for Raheja Srishti, and it was launched in December 2007 at the price of Rs 2875 psf. It is now sold out.

An article covering the regions around sector 109 was recently published in the Indian Express Real Estate section here.

(Click on the image to ENLARGE) Site layout Masterplan for Raheja Srishti

Raheja Srishti in Sector 109 will have state-of-the-art Club house, gym, spa, jogging tracks, walking tracks etc.

In addition there will be creches and children’s play area.

There are provisions for a business center, and the complex will be WiFi enabled.

And all of this supported with 100% power backup, 24 X 7X 365 security …

• Till the Navratras there is a discount of Rs 300 psf (till Sept 28, 2008), and
• from then on till Dussera the discount will be Rs 200 psf.
• So, it is definitely going to be helpful to make a quick decision.

It would be helpful to judge the price based on

• the prices of projects that have been recently announced
• prices of projects that are in the viccinity of Raheja Srishti
• comparison of extra charges that are being levied in addition to the BSP – Basic Sales Price

And all of this must be placed in context with “stagnant” state of real estate market in the NCR (National Capital Region). We need to look at the recent trends of the prices of properties in the Gurgaon region, and then conclude whether this is the right time to invest – or should we wait.

We shall address each of these issues in the forthcoming posts …. but in the meanwhile, here is the price list of all projects in Gurgaon compiled by Qubrex – QuBit real Estate eXchange that gives and idea of what the currnet property prices in the region are. Soon we will also analyze whether the price of Raheja Srishti is justified …..

(Click on the above image to ENLARGE). Detailed Pricing for Raheja Srishti Apartments

Clicking on the image above will give detailed and total costing for all the Raheja Srishti apartments.

The booking amount is 10% of the Total BSP (Basic Selling Price. Even though the 2nd payment is due within 60 days of booking, if yours is a bank loan case, then the payment of the 2nd installment can be deferred till the banks start disbursing loans for the Raheja Srishti project.

FYI, the banks have just recently started disbursing loans for Raheja Vedaanta, and the approvals for Raheja Atharva and Raheja Srishti are expected soon.

Well, here is the map of Gurgaon showing the Raheja Developers projects. Please note that what is marked as Raheja Atlantis 2 (near Babupur) is actually the Raheja Srishti project …. The name of the Babupur project has been change from Atlantis 2 to Srishti.

(Click on image to enlarge.) Gurgaon Map showing the location of the various projects of Raheja Developers - Note that the project marked Raheja Atlantis 2 is actually the site for Raheja Srishti.

Keith Griffins of Aedas worlds fourth largest architectural firm

Here is Mr. Griffins on the Company’s website:

the webpage of aedas

Wikipedia has a devoted page to :
“Aedas (pronounced eye–das from the Latin “Aedificare[1]” – to build) is a global architectural firm recognised for their creativity in mixed-use developments, transportation, education and healthcare building design.

How did Raheja Developers manage to rope in Aedas? The story goes that Rahejas had first launched a project called Raisina in Sector 59, Gurgaon. For various strategic reasons, when Rahejas got the opportunity to bring the Tatas on board the Raisina project they did not hesitate. (More details about the  Raisina Residency can be found here.) The Tatas then brought Aedas on board the Raisina Residency project, and when they got a chance, the Rahejas roped in Aedas for their Raheja Srishti project.

Some of the work done by Aedas and featured on wikipedia is shown below

Design Gallery of Aedas ...

And here is a snap shot from the Company’s (AEDAS.com) home page – Click here to see a visual treat of the projects that they have executed.

Some of Aedas Projects featured on the web homepage.