Builders will shut shop for a day in protest over graft
Chennai:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
More than 11,000 developers across the country and members of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India Credai) will shut operations or a day on Tuesday as a mark of protest against the central and state governments' failure to curb corruption in the housing sector.
The issue gained prominence with the suicide of Thane developer Suraj Parmar, who shot himself and left a lengthy suicide note detail ng harassment by politicians and bureaucrats.
Credai said in a statement hat all offices and construc ion sites of its members would remain closed for a day .The gesture is also to express solidarity with the family members of Parmar, it said.
Parmar was the owner of Cosmos Group and president of Thane chapter of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing ndustry . Blaming the “inefficient government system“ for his death, the statement said hat he suffered because of “harassment from various government departments and their repeated demands or bribes“.
Credai has also sent representations to the central government seeking speedy approvals for projects and ntroduction of single-window clearance. While everyone blames builders for hiking prices, nobody has ever tried to look at the plight of developers, the representation said. Developers have to obtain around 60 approvals and permissions before starting a project and each approval necessitates dealing with a number of government agencies. It takes two to three years for a developer to get a project clearance.This results in huge cost overruns and delays, it said.
The protest, however, is likely to be a timid exercise in Tamil Nadu as developers here are wary of confronting the government on an issue that has the potential to raise hackles. Builders said they were already facing stiff opposition from various quarters. Three private printers refused to print posters and banners announcing the agitation as a fight against corruption, a developer said.
Developers in the state have spoken only in hushed voices till now about corruption in regulatory agencies and arm-twisting by politicians and bureaucrats.
