AA II from across seven seas !

First off, let me apologize to the readers of SaveNewTown for being out of action for nearly 2 months now. I have been tied down with a lot that has been going on my personal front. Hence have been AWOL.

Also I have been travelling, and out of the country on assignment since the first week of April. Today Saturday, 7th May; I decided to sit down and write a few words and update my readers.

As I sit down and write this piece in a far away cafe in a far away land of USA. I miss being in cacophony that is Calcutta, the wide open spaces of New Town. I have three more weeks to go before I return to base camp.

Now that the elections are behind us, we hope the HIDCO authorities can get down to the business of development and the much missed infrastructure in New Town, better known in some circles as Ghost Town. The election results would be out soon and we shall know which way the dice has rolled. Left or right, red or green – let us hope it settles the burning issue of land acquisition in the state.

Let us also hope who ever assumes power keeps everyone’s interests in mind and sets aside political partisanship and for once decides in public interest. Let better sense prevail, let justice be done, let responsible development happen. Let the landowners get their due and let us move on in life. Wishful thinking you say ? Hope is all I have people.

In the last few months, I had received many requests to tour AA II with specific focus towards individual plots and report on the goings on and the state of the union.

Before I sailed out west, I visited AA II, around the second week of March and that is what I am reporting on today. To some who have been up and about in the last few weeks, some information presented here may seem stale. So please skip this if you are already in the know.

  

The projects that line up this stretch of AA II opposite Lake Nucifera are Hiland Woods, Sunrise Symphony, Peerless Anahita Bengal Shelter’s Teen Kanya, Bengal DCL’s Malancha and Sunny Fort to name some.

Lake Nucifera

This area is far from being habitable yet. No wonder, the builders are offering many a bait, starting from lower rates, semi furnished, air conditioned units with wooden floored bed rooms. All this and more to shore up the hard to convince consumer.

Having visited Hiland Woods earlier, I decided to give it a miss and stopped by Sunrise Symphony instead. As expected was greeted by a smooth talking salesman who saw nothing wrong in the lack of infrastructure in the area and reassured that as soon as these projects start handing over the units to their respective owners, infrastructure will follow suit. What came before I ask - chicken or the egg ?

Above is a leaf out of the sales brochure of Sunrise Symphony. Here in they claim, that you will be at one with nature. Who needs infrastructure if you have such postcard beauty on offer.

The sales representative @ Symphony also confirmed that Lake Nucifera is destined to be beautified and maintained by Bengal Ambuja folks, who apparently have the contract bid for it. No one seems to know what is the time frame for it. It seemed a secret a little too well kept.

Below are some pictures of the model flat at Sunrise Symphony, where I was told about 70% of flats have been sold. And I better hurry, if I want something half-decent. I decided to hold on to the buying decision, for the moment at least :)

 

Just outside Sunrise Symphony and by the shore of Lake Nucifera stood an abandoned bright yellow truck, whose purpose was not clear, not to me at least. Apart from the fact, that it was owned by the state government.

 

Hate to say that the next door, Peerless Anahita and  Bengal Shelter Teen Kanya cut a sorry figure. They seem to be in perennial state of construction. There seems to be hardly any thing different to report on these projects. My sympathies with people who have booked units in either of these.

Next in line was Bengal DCL’s Malancha. Now this project has been embroiled in controversy for some time now. It was launched with much fan fare back in 2007 I believe. With punch lines as - “A home from Bengal DCL is like Beethoven giving music lessons to your daughter. Living in Malancha Condoville is like Albert Einstein tutoring physics to your son”. Many moons later, I am sure this line will wake up Beethoven in his grave and force Einstein to curdle in his slumber.

I have nothing against, how people look. Very early on in life I was told to “Never judge a book by it’s cover, or judge people by how they look”. But then again, there is always that exception to the rule. Case in point being the picture below. I am sorry to say that this group photo does not instill any confidence in me as a buyer, and far from the order of Beethoven or Einstein.

 Bengal DCL – Board of directors

Nothing against any one personally, but Malancha too has gone south for the most part. It is in it’s fifth year of construction, grossly delayed now by nearly 2 years. And far from offering any compensation for the delay; on the contrary they have recently sent notices to the flat owners asking them for even more money above and beyond the original price. Also asking them to take possession of their apartments without basic utilities like electricity and water.  Their alibi – rising cost of building materials. Such are the ways of this world.

You can read more and subscribe to this facebook group for more details – Malancha, New Town, Rajarhat.

Notwithstanding the unscrupulous intentions of Bengal DCL, I still stopped by Bengal DCL and exercised my democratic right of shooting some pictures.

   

    

Below are some pictures of the Sunny Fort project. There wasn’t much time left on this day to get into the details of this project.

 

This was the Action Area II story. I am afraid, I was not able to cover the individual plots on this visit. But there is always a next time and I promise upon my return to the homeland, I will deliver on doing a dedicated piece on individual plots across New Town.

On the way back, there were some more things that caught my fancy .

Above is a stark and grim reality of New Town, amidst all the glitz and glamour of HIG towers, corporate business parks, and fancy apartment complexes lie piles of garbage and trash littered all over.

There is is construction debris, house hold refuse, and all kinds of garbage. The sad part is, it does not seem to bother any one. There are no garbage pick up service in any part of New Town, to the best of my knowledge. And this is a world class township. May God bless New Town !

Finally, below are some pictures of Shrachi developed Synthesis Business Park.

 

Below are some candid shots of some unusual visitors, on their inspection route of SBP. Good omen, may be ?