BENGALURU: The poor power situation in the state has led to more than one problem for many. Apart from having to deal with power outages that last a few hours every day, those residing in some of the apartment complexes in the city are being asked to shell out extra in the form maintenance charges.
Some apartment complexes in the city, considering the deteriorating power situation in the state, have increased maintenance charges. The increase ranges from a few paise to around `1 per sqft. Hariharan, a resident of Prestige South Ridge in Banashankari said charges have been increased recently. He lives in a 1,700 sqft flat paying a maintenance charges of `3.54 per sqft.
“Recently, we had a general body meeting at the apartment where this was discussed. It has been decided to increase the maintenance cost by 10 paise per sqft. I currently pay `6,000, which has been increased to `6,188. If there is a power shortage in the state, then there is nothing wrong in increasing the charges,” he said. Similarly, Ravi, a resident of a 1,500 sqft flat in Sterling Apartments in the area, said the charges were increased last month itself.
“I can’t say if the power situation had anything to do with it. However, last month, there was an unanimous decision to increase maintenance charges by 60 paise per sqft from `2.10 per sqft. I was earlier paying maintenance of `3,150 a month. But now it is `4,050. Since prices of all services are increasing, this increase in the charges seems warranted,” he said.
However, not every apartment complex has increased charges. Usha Abrol, a resident of Unitech Heritage in Yelahanka, said that there has been no such move. “I pay `5,000 as maintenance each quarter. I also pay `2,000 as a corpus. So, every three months, I am paying around `7,000 to the apartment’s association. There was an increase around a year and a half ago. But since then, there has been increase in charges,” she said.
Kaveri Kumar, a resident of Prestige Monte-Carlo apartment in Yelahanka said frequent power cuts aren’t much of an issue. “We rely on generators when there is a power cut. There hasn’t been any move to increase maintenance charges as such,” she said.