Noida,March 24: While the Government of India has collated information to show that swine flu had claimed more than 1,900 lives across the country, KV Developers, a real estate company operating from Noida had, close to ten days ago, sent out advertisements for “swine flu free homes”.
Real estate developers have been known to come up with attractive schemes and discount packages like Supertech, a Noida based realty developer which is currently promoting a “buy one flat, get one free” offer.
So when a real-estate company comes up with the idea of homes that are supposed to be free of the H1N1 virus, it piques your interest.
With the virus reportedly spreading as cases have been sighted from all across the country, is the idea of a “swine flu free home” really scientific or just a gimmick?
“The technology first came into the market thirteen years ago and it is patented and has been approved by the Government of India”, claims Anil Kohli of KV Developers to The News Minute.
However, the developers, are not disclosing any details of the technology that would be put into place in these homes. Though we asked multiple times, the only answer forthcoming was that they had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the promoters and therefore could not further divulge details.
“It’s a secret tool”, Kohli says, also claiming that the technology won a gold medal at “some science” Geneva Convention in 2013.
The press release from the developers further adds that the technology “has been tested and recommended by various renowned National and International agencies, including IIT Kharagpur and International Testing Centre”.
When asked by us for approvals by the aforementioned agencies Kohli added that Rintu Banerjee from IIT Kharagpur had approved of it and provided us with a bit of her testimony.
When The News Minute got in touch with Banerjee, she expressed surprise at first on being associated with swine flu. On being further pressed, the Professor of Agricultural & Food Engineering at the institute said that she was not aware of the matter and would take it up with her superiors at the IIT.
But the testimonial for the apartment quotes Banerjee and her conclusion says: “It can be concluded from the above results that this technology can be used to make environment bacteria oblique contamination free. It is efficiently killing bacteria and controlling growth of bacteria.”
When asked how come Banerjee was denying any connection to the technology, Anil Kohli insisted that she wrote the testimonial in 2013, and told us to go ahead with her version of denial.
The ambiguity does not end with the professor being unaware of her name being used, but a report in The Business Standard also mentions the reaction of the architect-in-charge of the construction. “As the architect, I am not aware of this”, he reportedly said, adding that the homes have “good ventilation and plenty of sunlight”.
Kohli claims that the homes will not only ward off the H1N1 strains of the swine flu virus, but other air-borne bacterial diseases and that the technology would last for two and a half years in a flat. The re-installation cost will approximately be as much as “you spend on Christmas or Diwali”, says Kohli.
On being asked why the homes were marketed as “swine flu free” ones, Kohli says that being first in the market as the ones offering such a product counts as a good sales pitch. “If a paper can claim to be the most circulated in India, they are also using a certain pitch. Same way, the technology will kill all bacteria and virus, we chose this pitch.”
Nine hundred flats are supposedly coming up at Windpark, the housing project currently in development in Tech Zone IV, Greater Noida West. Kohli added that bookings had happened in numbers that were upward of 300.
The flats will reportedly cost Rs 400 per sq. ft with a 2bhk expected to go for Rs 30 lakhs and the maximum price that the largest flat is expected to fetch is Rs 47 lakh, according to the developers.
The difference between a sales pitch and the real deal will be found out by inhabitants in thirty-six months time though, when the homes are finally hospitable. Measles free houses next?
