Some Gurgaon Resident Welfare Associations Provide Scant Accounting Of "Maintenance" Funds
By Sanjay Sharma, Section Civic Problems in Gurgaon
Posted on Sun Jan 02, 2005 at 06:18:55 AM EST
Came across an interesting observation in the Times Of India that some RWA's do not provide any accounting of how the "maintenance funds" collected by them were spent even after 20 years. How do the residents deal with such situations? With elections scheduled for Feb 03, 2005, and RWA's trying to put up their own political candidate, this might be a good time to get some answers.
A common grievance amongst people living in societies is that apart from monthly maintenance, huge collections are made for exterior whitewashing, road re-laying and so on by the Resident Welfare Associations.
But the office bearers don't provide accounts - sometimes for as long as 20 years - of how the money was spent.
When some members of the co-operative group housing society refuse to pay the maintenance charges - which in many cases are arbitrarily high - the office bearers declare them defaulters.
Today, maintenance charges impose a heavy financial burden on people living within societies, and have hence become a very important issue.
It is, therefore, obligatory on the part of the society to include this subject on the agenda of their meetings. If the maintenance charges are being hiked, members should be informed in advance through a notice. Members can then come prepared for a discussion.
