Builder tells Delhi RERA it has abandoned the project after over three decades of delays. Photo credit: IANS
NEW DELHI: After failing to build and grant possession of promised commercial units in plaza-4 of Central Square Complex at Bara Hindu Rao for over three decades, the builder has now informed Delhi RERA that it’s not in a position to complete the project and has “abandoned” it as the company doesn’t have any sanctioned building plans.As per a Delhi RERA order of May 12, which was uploaded recently on its website, the counsel of Purearth Infrastructure Ltd recorded this response when the regulator was hearing complaints from three of its customers. The builder’s counsel said it is “willing to refund money to all allottees as per the RERA, 2016”. The bench of RERA chairman Anand Kumar and member Devesh Singh directed Purearth’s counsel to make a statement about the abandonment of the project.Purearth Infrastructure is a joint venture between DCM Ltd and Singaporean investors.This new stand of the company has come as a rude shock to buyers who have been waiting for years to get the promised commercial units in the tower in Delhi’s central area. Responding to TOI’s queries, a senior executive of Purearth Infrastructure said, “Because of several ongoing litigation, including with MCD, we can’t carry out construction. So, we will ask buyers to take back their payments with interest as per the RERA law.”Some of the affected buyers said that they had no idea of the builder’s new plan to abandon the project. “Even their Annual Report of 2024-25 said the company has flatted factory project ‘Central Square’ comprising four plazas. It has received completion certificates for three of them, and these are fully operational, whereas plaza no-4 is under construction. We want the company to give us the units it had promised,” said one of them.Another buyer said even after MCD had approved the building plan for plaza-4 in May 2010, the company did not take up construction during the validity period of five years.In January this year, TOI had reported how the plot on which plaza-4 was to be built remains a huge pit. The company had then told this newspaper that “discussions are underway on Plaza-4 with municipal authorities as we are requesting them for increased parkings and greater height so that we can provide much more green area. We will commence construction as soon as approvals come.”The commercial units were proposed on prime land which housed Delhi Cloth & General Mills (DCM) industrial complex, a large textile manufacturing mill. Earlier, RERA orders had repeatedly pointed to how the builder “consistently and unequivocally developed, marketed, advertised and sold” the units at Central Square as a commercial business park despite knowing that the land classification for the plot was for “flatted factory”.
