Jaypee Group’s project of creating a township near the Yamuna Expressway has come to a halt, shattering the dreams of around 23,000 homebuyers. The township which is located between Noida and Greater Noida is called Wish Town. The possession of flats has been delayed by over five years. The homebuyers have organised multiple protests over the last week in Delhi.

Between 2009 and 2012, a large number of homebuyers had invested in Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL). In August 2017, IDBI Bank filed an insolvency case against JIL with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

In a complaint submitted to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week, the homebuyers claimed that around “21 reputed real estate companies” had shown interest in taking over JIL project,  but “all failed”. According to the homebuyers, these bids failed because the bidders didn’t have adequate funds, capacity or credibility to carry out such a huge project.

During a June 23 protest at Jantar Mantar, homebuyers urged the government to direct the IDBI Bank to vote in favour of the state-run National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited’s (NBCC)  bid for the acquisition of the debt-ridden firm and prevent it from going through the liquidation process.

At another protest, which took place at India Gate on June 29, around 50 to 100 homebuyers gathered with placards of  “we want our homes at Jaypee”, “we want possession”. Most of these buyers had invested a huge chunk of their savings or had taken out a loan to buy these flats. Now they are paying instalments without any guarantee of when the flats would be handed over. 

Amit Gosain, one of the homebuyers who has taken out a loan, told Newslaundry: “My unit here cost ₹49 lakh for which I took out a ₹37-lakh loan; I am paying ₹40, 000 EMI. I have been paying the EMI for the last five years. I had booked this (flat) in 2011. Today, even after paying ₹20 to ₹25 lakh of EMI, it has all gone as interest—the very minuscule amount has actually been reduced from the principal amount. My loan liability still stands at ₹36 lakhs.”

He added: “When I took out this loan, I had certain plans in life. It’s been eight years since. My children were growing up, they had to go to college, so all that was a part of financial planning, which has gone for a toss now. I had to withdraw my provident fund to pay for my son’s college fees.”

The protestors want JIL to construct the remaining of their flats, under the supervision of a Supreme Court-mandated committee. Most of them still believe that only Jaypee will meet the standard of quality of their flats, as they are well-equipped.

“The company who started the entire operations have not run away. The company had called all homebuyers on April 19 to showcase the papers since 2017—since it started. They explained the communication between the company, the bank, the RBI the NCLT, the court—every document was presented. We, as homebuyers, were not interested to see (the papers). We were only interested in taking out our shoes and hitting them, does anything work like that,” said Aashish Gupta, a homebuyer and the organiser of the protests.

According to the homebuyers, Jaypee has been reasonable to accept their mistakes and are willing to correct it. They believe that the company should be given a second chance. “They called us up and said yes, we have made mistakes. They asked but what should be the punishment for our mistakes. Did we run? Did we go somewhere? The punishment would be completing the construction of your houses under supervision.  And what is wrong in that,” Gupta told Newslaundry. 

What is the company’s mistake? “They had taken a lot of loans and had a lot of debt which has made them a non-performing asset,” Gupta explained.

According to the protestors, the blame for their present condition is to be shared by every institution—from Jaypee to NCLT to bank. But at the present moment, they think that IDBI stopping the flow of funds to Jaypee has led to a full stop like situation in the construction of their homes.

The protestors assembled at India Gate, however, are not very hopeful about uniting 23,000 homebuyers. “They (Jaypee Group) are ready to create an escrow account, but some homebuyers will allege that Jaypee chor hai ( they are thieves). What do we have to do with that, when the Jaypee Group is assuring they will invest around ₹2,200 crore, is it not prudent that we sit down and listen to what plans do they have,” Gupta said.

Homebuyers do not want to extend this fight as they have all their savings at stake. “I have my ₹60 lakh stuck in this, out of which ₹30 lakh was a loan, ₹25,000 is the EMI that is going every month, and above this, the rent. All we demand is early possession of the house that too in a liveable condition and no more litigations. You might have seen what has been happening for the past two years. Jaypee arranged around ₹850 crores last year, they are still ready to do this, they have ₹850 crores plus they are ready to give ₹2,200 crore and start the construction,” Sonu, one of the protestors, said.

For Vijay Kumar Agarwal, buying this home was also a part of his retirement plan. “It is been nine years, I bought this home. I am retired now and I want the earliest possession in liveable conditions. There was credibility in Jaypee which other bidders are unable to provide.” Agarwal claims other bidders don’t have enough money to deliver such a huge project. “The real issue is the working capital issue, which Jaypee doesn’t have,” he said.

Another factor that is bothering the homebuyers limited understanding of the technicalities involved. “Each time there is a new bidder, the homebuyers don’t have the wherewithal to understand all these technicalities of what the bid is,” Gosain said.

The protestors are now tired. The June 23 letter urges for an out-of-court settlement. However, while speaking to Newslaundry, protestors stated that if these protests don’t work out, they will approach the courts.