Participants of the IIMB-RERI – BAF workshop at IIMB on Sunday.
What are the key challenges apartment managing committees face while one committee hands over to the other? How can older apartments accommodate electric vehicle (EV) charging stations on their premises?
A few problems like these and the potential solutions to them were presented by members of various Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) of Bengaluru at the valedictory session of the Certificate Programme for Resident Welfare Association (RWA) Office Bearers, hosted by the Real Estate Research Initiative (RERI) at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), in collaboration with the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) on Sunday.
The idea of this programme stemmed when Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson, RERI, and Vikram Rai, president, the Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) who had previously worked on many projects together decided to bring together people who have the mindset, knowledge and network to get empowered and contribute to the governance of their communities. After a year of meticulous planning, the programme began a few weeks ago.
“The intent is to build capacity and community through structured training and a strong network with BAF, so residents feel empowered to take on leadership roles in their communities. Often, only a handful of residents step up to lead. While the goals are shared, self-governance remains a challenge,” Prof. Panchapagesan said.
The first cohort of this programme consisted of 23 members representing apartments with only 20 units to over 3,000 units. While some of them volunteered for the programme, a few others were handpicked by RERI and BAF.
RWA governance, including the legal framework for Management Committees (MCs), financial planning and budgeting, capital project execution, vendor and soft systems management, water and IT systems, multi-stakeholder communication, and compliance management were some of the topics covered in the sessions which were held every Sunday for four weeks along with technical functioning of key infrastructure components such as electrical systems, fire safety, lift operations, and sewage treatment plants.
On Sunday, the cohort who were divided into groups deliberated on the real-world issues faced by apartment managing committees. While providing potential solutions to these problems, for instance, creation of formalised SOPs or documents to pass on information when a managing committee handover to the next, surveys before setting up EV stations, the groups also released handbooks and guides which can help other apartment RWAs.
On whether the course will help influence how communities are managed going forward, Deepak Barolia, representing Icon Happy Living Apartments, said, “We are now better prepared for crises. The clarity on compliance also helps us engage with government officials more confidently.”
RERI and BAF are still working out the details of when a new cohort will be admitted, if the programme will be expanded to gated communities and non-apartment RWAs etc. They also plan to increase the involvement of civic agencies in the programme through a two-way communication passage.
Published – April 14, 2025 12:53 am IST
