Not only this, but domestic helps, maids and drivers have been banned from using the lifts. This unwritten dictum has been passed by the management of Ajay Enterprises Ltd, a sister group of the Eros Group of Companies which built the residential complex.

The residents have lodged two complaints with the Surajkund police post asking for the restoration of their water supply.

The residents claim that all this is part of the builder's pressure tactics to extract more money from them in the form of maintenance charges. Raman Sood managing director of Ajay Enterprises Ltd denied that the water supply in the complex had been disconnected.

When he was told that the reporter himself could testify to the fact that there was no water in the complex, Sood said: ``I am not aware of this, but I will see into it right now''.

One irate resident said: ``After purchasing this house, we shifted into it in 1994. We had believed everything claimed in the glamorous advertisement put in newspapers by the builder. But now we feel trapped''.

The tussle between the builder and the Resident Welfare Association began early this year when despite several meetings and written requests, the builder failed to execute the Conveyance Deed. The residents also claimed that the builders had failed to hand over the flats to them as specified by the Haryana Apartments Ownership Act, 1983.

The Residents Welfare Association took matters into their own hands and decided not to pay their maintenance charges after the management ``failed to maintain the common areas and facilities'', said J.S. Puri, vice-president of the Association.

``Stray dogs, dangling wires, poor lighting, broken-down street lights and badly maintained roads are just some of our complaints,'' he added.