"The project was initialised by service officers as they felt that they needed larger houses. I took it up as I thought it would be my way of paying tribute to the armed forces on the silver jubilee of the 1971 war." So says Mr. Nitin Nyati of Nyati Builders, who took up the project on a no profit no loss basis. Service officers are used to living in large houses during their service career, but after retirement they find it diffucult to find proper housing. Their limited pay packets also limit them from getting bigger houses. In February 1997, a group of serving officers based in the city got together to resolve the housing problem.They contacted several builders, who evinced a reluctance to take on the project as they were unable to meet the requirement and specifications vis-a-vis the cost.

By the end of August the project took shape with Mr.Nyati offering land at Village Undri off NIBM Road. A group of serving officers formed a managing committeee and appointed Lt. Col. P Joshi as the Project Manager. At the time of launching it was estimated that they would need to build only 70 houses, but later the demand was for 120 flats.

Today the project size is for 320 flats, with about 85% belonging to the services. Eighty four flats have been completed and handed to the owners. The entire project is expected to be completed by December 2001. The builder has also built 32 shops in the project, of which 16 have been already handed over to the owners.The buildings have beautiful lobbies with granite flooring. Paintings adorn the entrance to each building. Most of the buildings have 7 floors with each floor having 4 flats The buildings have 17 stilt garages and 11 open paved parking spaces.

According to Mr. Nitin Nyati, "Every conceivable facility that can be provided to the house owner has been taken care of. We are trying to make the stay of the residents as comfortable as we can."
The society has provided a Thermal Culligan Water Treatment Plant with capacity of 4 lakh litres per day. All water that comes to the society is first treated in the plant and then supplied to the main water tank of each building. The society has a 500 KVA standby generator that is automatically switched on when there is a power failure. Each flat has 2 light points connected to the generator.

The project comprises of 2 & 3 bedroom apartments varying from a modest 815 sq. ft. to 1665 sq. ft., with different specifications and luxurious amenities being optional. The society has a jogging track, a children's play area, a courtesy coach given by the builder. All the interior roads in the society are of concrete.The builder has carried out extensive landscaping of the entire project area, including a beautiful fountain in front of the society.

To sort out any problems that may occur in future, each building has formed its own society, with one member from each building being a member of the apex society.
The Project has been approved for financial assistance by HDFC, GRUH Finance, GIC, LIC, AGI and even RBI.

                                                                                       Rahul Surkund