Bengaluru: Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) has created an “Apartment Residents Charter” to lists their expectations and demands from political parties.
BAF will also hold a panel discussion with senior representatives from political parties on April 22 to discuss the charter. One of the demands of the apartment’s charter is that in the backdrop of violations committed by the builders, apartment owners are harassed, so a framework involving the government, civic agencies should be worked out for the management of various assets of an apartment complex.
Vidya Goggi, Joint Secretary of BAF, said the political class take apartment residents for granted, “All politicians say that apartment residents do not vote, which is the primary reason for discrimination and harassment. This is set to change in the upcoming assembly elections where lakhs of apartment residents will come out to vote."
He further added that the BAF ran a structured campaign called AARAMB (Arise! Awake! Residents of Apartments in Mahanagara of Bengaluru) over the last few months through which thousands of new voters have registered on the electoral rolls. BAF has further alleged that access to basic amenities such as water, sewage network, garbage collection is lacking in a few areas so they expect the government to work on a war footing to make sure that the basic amenities are made available across the city.
Srikanth Narasimhan, General Secretary of BAF explained, “We are looking to get a commitment from political parties on resolving the issues impacting apartments. With Lok Sabha elections & BBMP elections following in the next two years, we are looking to hold the political parties accountable for the promises they make and the actions they take.”
The BAF has also stated that flat owners in the apartments are not bulk consumers, hence the tariffs should be at par with individual house owners. The statement also said that clubhouses, swimming pools, in apartment complexes are not commercial activities, hence water and power should be charged as per residential rates and not at commercial rates.
