My relative is a retired employee and got allotment in other old BSNL/Telecom layouts, In his view, Societies are good as long as they show regular progress towards the goal of layout formation. If the progress gets stagnant, then we should worry. I booked in Dec 2019 and so far I received two updates one related to civil work and other related to land conversion which is good. but we should ask the society for regular updates at least every quarter. My relative says societies are good for people who want low cost site near to city limits but the cost is waiting period. The purpose I bought is for investment and appreciation so timeline is not a worry for me. But regular updates we should ask the society.