Attracted by the "Mila Hai Mujhe. Dharthi Pe Swarg" caption of Puravankara and "If God is in details then this is defenitely heaven" and "Sheer Beauty, Absolute Perfection, Total Comfort - Under One Roof" captions of Purva Panorama I booked an apartment in this project. The marketing team was amazing, the brochures were superb and the signing of initial agreements was a cake walk.
Then started the problems and the shocks. Modifications. The modification department tries to fleece the customers as much as posssible. Moving a switch point by a few inches in the plan(when I started discussing the modifications only the foundation of the block had been laid) is done by charging a grand. So you can get the hang of it. I ended up shelling out about a lakh to get all the modifications. Many of my modification requests were turned down citing technical difficulties, the construction company wont agree and in some cases a blunt "no, we wont do it). And these modifications were not affecting the structural integrity of the frame in any way mind you.
Then comes teh site visits. Purva allowed the owners just 3 hrs on Saturdays to visit the site. Other days strictly restricted. Work was getting affected it seems.
With all these precautions towards modifications, preventing visits so that work is not disturbed, you would expect them to complete the project reasonably on time. But not with Purva. The first phase of the project which was supposed to be completed by Nov’06 is still dragging on(June 2007). There was a clause in the construction agreement that said Purva would pay the owners penalty for any delay in construction. But no when owners started demanding for it Purva is using loopholes in the agreement(well they put them there in the first place). They wont pay penalties for anyone who has delayed even a single payment to them. But then their process of raising the payment demand note makes sure that payments WILL BE delayed. And then there are those who paid the full amount during booking itself. For them there is no question of delay in payments. Puravankara’s excuse for not paying the penalty to them – “Act of God” clause in the agreement. And you know what the act of God was that prevented them from completing the construction of time – Monsoon rains in Bangalore. You see, the great Puravankara builders do not even anticipate rains when they make the project schedule you see.
After all these hardships, finally Puravankara has started handing over the apartments to a few owners. And there are a few unfortunate souls who have had to move into their apartments despite all the construction activities going on in the site as they had informed their landlords that they will be moving out.
So how are the apartments that Puravankara has handed over.? Purva hands over the apartments without water connection, fittings in the bathroom, electricity connection, no lifts or in some blocks 1 lift, muddy roads that are always full of huge lorries etc etc etc.
A look at the amenities promised in their site: https://puravankara.com/projects/panorama/amenities.asp
They have allocated 1500(yes all of thousand five hundred) sq ft for the swimming pool and the toddlers pool, which has been further reduced owing to the economical(economical to Purva) design of the pool, for a complex that is going to have 648 apartments. They are going to have ONE tennis court, ONE table tennis table(BRILLIANT), ONE billiards table, a gym with 5 equipment(Only one of each. Everybody, go stand in a line), a convenience store in 350 sq ft.(Will it be atleast convenient for the person who is going to man the store?) and no idea where the waterscapes, health center, Aerobic Room, Gazebo etc are going to be(if at all).
One of the directors of Purva met some residents in a meeting at the site a few weeks back and promised to look at all the probles and solve them soon. But so far there has been no improvement. Makes one wonder if the management has any concern at all about the frustrations of the owners.
If the management doesn’t change its callous attitude towards its customers it is sure to spoil its name in the city and abroad too(most of its business comes from NRIs) with people spreading around the word. Hope the management wakes up to the reality.