March 21, 2024

Minutes of the General Body Meeting held on the 31st March 2024, Sunday

At 10.30 am the President welcomed the members present and informed that for quorum members will have to wait till 11.00am.

At 11 am the President announced that in the absence of quorum the meeting was being adjourned for 15 minutes.

At 11.15 the meeting was started.

The minutes of last GBM (held on August 20, 2023) were read out by the President. He also read out the comments received (via emails) from Ms Shipra Mandal, Mr Ashok Tuteja, Mohd Shakeel Ahmed and  Mr Sri Krishna. The minutes were confirmed by the GBM.

Increase of Maintenance charge and Parking Fees:  The treasurer Mr Ashok Kumar Sehgal presented the financial statements which were circulated to members/owners earlier. The president briefed that, for 2024-25, we were staring at a deficit of around Rs 6 lakhs without taking depreciation into account. The receipts on account of Maintenance and Parking were not enough to meet even expenses on Salaries and Security. The rates were last revised wef April 2021. A hike in rates has therefore become imperative. The proposal from the Managing Committee is: a) increase maintenance charge from Rs 750 to Rs 1000 per monthand b) increase parking charge from Rs 125 to Rs 150 for the first car, from Rs 250 to Rs 300 for the second car and from Rs 600 to Rs 700 for the third car.

Comments and suggestions received:

Ms Poonam Dabas: The increase is much needed and appreciated but with the increase the MC should consider an improvement in the following issues:

  1. Area near Gate No. 3 is not cleaned properly. The sweeper dumps waste near the drains along the walls of the Lovely boundary resulting in choking of the drain, stagnation of water and breeding of mosquitoes.
  2. Lose wires and cables hanging are an eyesore and should be attended to.?? ( Stairs are not cleaned properly ??.)
  3. Car parking should be made more organized with dedicated parking slots.

Mr NN Gupta:

  1. The MC should relook at the projections. Certain expenses like that on cleanliness, sewers, diwali gifts, legal expenses etc should be brought down.
  2. Many of the residents are retired people and can ill afford the increase in maintenance charges.

Mr N Jaychander:

  1. Cleanliness near gate No.3 is a concern. The sweepers, he feels, start from gate no 1 and end half way without attending to the stretches along the Lovely and Metro boundary wall and the area in front
  2. The washroom near flat No. 219 needs to be kept clean as people do not like passing through the corridor due to foul odour.
  3. Parking charges should be made Rs 500 for the first car, Rs 1000 for the second and Rs 1500 for the third car.
  4. Expenses on distributing hard copies of agenda papers etc should be avoided; at least for those who are on emailing list.
  5. The common area illumination during occasions like Diwali ,New Year etc should be better. Gate Nos. 2 and 3 are often not taken care of during special celebrations.

Mr Manoranjan Bharti:

  1. Dog poops should be picked up by owners of the pets. He appreciated that a few dog owners were doing so but many residents werel not adhering to this basic civic sense.
  2. Gate No. 3 area should be cleaned properly.
  3. Parking charges could be increased further and an auction of parking slots could be done for the residents to enable them to own specific car parking spaces.
  4. He wondered why lift maintenance charges were being charged to him living as he is in the first floor. He hardly used the lift and accordingly should be exempt from the same or should be charged on graded basis.

Mr Sri Krishna:

  1. Old cars which were not in use should not be allowed to occupy society space.
  2. Residents who have moved to nearby societies are still parking their cars within our society which should be stopped immediately.

Mr SC Sehgal:

  1. There is an urgent need of having an intercom facility at our gates as guests and intruders tend to walk into the premises and knock at the doors without notice .
  2. Gate no 3 area cleanliness is a concern .

Mr V Mohan Narayan:

  1. Civil contractors should be given a fixed time frame to clear the malwa/ debris generated from repair works.
  • Dry leaves may be utilized to generate compost manure for use in gardening.
    • Our maintenance charge and parking charges are least among the nearby societies.

Ms Rekha Joshi:

  1. Priority should be given to curtail hanging wires around the society premises.

Mr Pallav Bagla:

  1. An increase in maintenance charge is must as costs are have gone up.
  2. Parking for the 2nd and 3rd cars should be much higher.

Mr Subimal Chowdhury:

  1. Need to hike the parking charges for the 2nd and the 3rdcars. If possible the 3rd car should be parked outside the society premises.
  2. Size of the car should also be considered while charging parking fees as nowadays SUVs are taking up the space for two small cars.
  3. He has been involved in previous exercises undertaken by the MC earlier for better/ dedicated car parking. The exercises were not fruitful.
  4. He does not feel any discrimination is there in cleaning of the stretch by the Metro boundary wall.

Ms Shobhana Jain:

  1. Increase of maintenance charge should be rational.10%, 10%, 10%.
  2. The 2nd and 3rd car parking rates should be higher.
  3. Gate no 3 area needs special attention.

Mr A R Das:

  1. Maintenance charge should be rational and based on affordability, the financial health of the residents. As our society has various classes of people the charges should be separate for various segments of people living here.
  2. The maintenance charge should be based on the area of the flat and accordingly be graded.
  3. The quality of staff should be improved.
  4. Satisfaction of services received is relative to the hike in charges.

Mr Sukumar Banerjee:

  1. charges should be in proportion to the area of flats.

Mr Vinod Sharma:

  1. Allowing parking of a third car within the society premises is irrational. Should be disallowed.

            Mr Sri Krishna:

  1. Charges should be in proportion to the area of flat

The GBM now approved the proposal of the MC for increased maintenance charge and parking fees.

The ‘facelift’ project: The president took up the matter of facelift by reading from the note given earlier to the members. He informed that nearly 163 members had paid the first instalment and a few paying even their full estimated share in advance. Around rupees 16 Lacs had been collected so far of which rupees 14.5 lacs are lodged in our CLSB account.

He also mentioned that after meetings with the paint companies and extensive deliberations the MC has unanimously proposed Asian Paints for the job after considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The estimated cost as of now is rupees 38 lakhs. A comparative chart giving details of JSW, Nobel (Dulux) and Asian Paints was also shared with the present members.

Suggestions received:

Mr Vijay Naik:

  1. The timelines for payments to be paid by residents should be adhered to strictly. As many members are yet to pay.
  2. 10 % of the payment to be paid to the contractor should be held back till next monsoons as any issues with the paint job could get highlighted after monsoon.

Mr Pallav Bagla:

  1. Areas like shafts, lift rooms, railings in staircases and pipes should also be done up during the process.
  2. Pipes behind shafts should be clamped to avoid any loose hanging.
  3. The contractor should be told to lay plastic sheets etc on floors while painting walls  to avoid paint marks on streets, floors and common areas.
  4. Loose wires and cables should be removed.

Mr Subimal Chowdhury:

  1. Shaft areas tooshould be painted.
  2. Pipes in shafts also need painting.
  3. All loose wires should be removed.
  4. Airtel should be told to relay the pipes they have put on parapet walls.

The GBM now approved the proposal of the Managing Committee to go ahead with Asian Paints.

The president said that expected time for completion would be three months from the day of starting the job. He also mentioned that a reminder to those who have not paid the first instalment would go out soon. The second instalment request will be shared with the members and residents this month itself. He was hoping to start the facelift works by April 14, 2024.

Mr Samaddar thanked the members of the MC headed by Mr Girish Varghese for having spent their time and energy on the matter. He also informed members of the special support received from Mr R Sedhuraman in getting a good price from Asian Paints.

The president briefed the members on the flat No. 119. He also informed that the same is now available for the residents of Samachar for temporary use. As of now the rates continue to be Rs 1000 for half the flat and Rs 2000 for the full flat per day. Society is issuing receipts for the amounts received from users (a/c Mr Ishwar Chandra). Expenses will also be debited to his account. This is being done after discussing with Mr Dashrath Kr Singh, CA.

Any Other Matter:

Mr Ram Sharan Joshi: (In view of the impending elections), the MC should not allow political parties to canvass within the society during the elections. Further no flags/posters/ photographs etc should be put on common properties like boundary walls, gates, staircases etc. Mr Vinod Sharma: Instead of allowing teams to go around with drums etc, we should provide them a common space for interaction and canvassing.

After a brief discussion, the consensus was: 

  1. Political parties will be given a common area (near the tank) to have their meetings with our residents. Residents will be given prior information of such meetings.
  2. No dhol / drum will be used; if need be a mic set can be provided for them to conduct a short interactive meeting with the residents.

The meeting ended with thanks by the president.

SHIVAJI SAMADDAR                                                                        GIRISH VARGHESE

President                                                                                             Gen .Secretary