Mumbai: Protesting flat buyers warn of poll boycott

Flat buyers demanding justice over stalled realty projects converged outside the suburban collectorrsquos office in Bandra on Saturday in protest against the MahaRERA and the state government Irked by the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities the distressed group has indicated that their stir will be visible during electionsmidday had reported on February 28 about the plans of the NGO Watchdog Foundation for the protest The NGOrsquos trustee advocate Godfrey Pimenta said ldquoThe distressed flat buyers are frustrated with the system When there is a prolonged delay in the delivery of justice under an authority like the MahaRERA the common man is bound to get affectedrdquoldquoUndermining the power of the common man will soon prove to be an error in judgement If the government fails to act on the memorandum submitted to the collectorrsquos office on Saturday people power will continue to have an upper hand amid the upcoming BMC electionsrdquo said PimentaAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation and Nicholas Almeida submit the memorandum at the suburban collectorrsquos officeAmong the protesters were flat buyers waiting for years to get possession of flats in CLAN towers Taloja Kalpataru Radiance Goregaon and other projects in western and central suburbs and the MMR areaAlso read Mumbai Bombay High Court seeks MahaRERArsquos help1700 families stuckAmong the distressed flat buyers at the protest was Nagesh Burla 49 ldquoWe are 1700 flat buyers at the three residential projects mdash Kalpataru Radiance Ekta Tripolis and The Luxor Goregaon West part of the sale component of the Patra Chawl rehabilitation projects undertaken by MHADA They have been delayed for more than eight years due to the apathy of MHADA and the state government We have not been provided with an Occupation Certificate OCrdquo said Burla who has been awaiting possession of his 3BHK flat since 2019 ldquoWe trusted the developer and the brand but we were betrayed What is our faultrdquo said Burla who invested Rs 335 crore out of Rs 370 crore in Kalpataru Radiance Burla added ldquoNearly threefourths of the 500 buyers in our towers which are nearly 95 per cent ready had to opt for housing loans I invested my entire savings and proceeds from the sale of my other flatrdquoNagesh Burla flay buyerldquoMy inlaws sold their house in Virar and utilised their retirement funds so that they could stay in the same building Our dream of staying together remains a dream I lost my mother and fatherinlaw during this extended waitrdquo said BurlaldquoOur projects are MahaRERA registered but the quasijudicial body seems to be leaning towards developers rather than flat buyers We have held numerous protests and met Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis MahaRERA seems to have a lack of uniformity in its orders There have been instances where it gave different verdicts for the same project In some cases the developer has been told to pay interest for delayed possession and in other cases litigants have been told to opt for arbitration as per the agreement This shows there is no precedent in its ordersrdquo Burla saidldquoWhy should builders enjoy interestfree money from buyers during the construction period and not be accountable It is the duty of the builder to plan get permissions and then promise possession It is otherwise an unfair trade practice on the part of the builderrdquo said BurlaPoll boycottMost of the distressed flat buyers have threatened to boycott the forthcoming civic and other elections Pradeep Valia 56 is forced to pay Rs 45000 for a rented house as his flat booked in 2011 at Cosmic Tower Andheri West is merely on paper ldquoI had booked a 1100 sq ft carpet area 4BHK flat on the 21st floor of a 25storey tower which was to be ready by 2013 Even after paying R140 crore out of total consideration of Rs 235 crore the developer has constructed only till 17th floorrdquo said ValiaValia added ldquoI had approached the MahaRERA which in January directed the builder to pay 10 per cent interest on delayed possession but the developer has not honoured the directive I am fed up and have decided to boycott forthcoming elections I will not cast my vote nor will my familyrdquoldquoThe government must appoint enough members to the MahaRERA a forensic audit of all projects stalled for more than five years must be conducted and a meeting of all stakeholders must be convened to find a solution Buyers facing stalled projects must also get a waiver of development charges premiums property tax etc or at least 50 per cent These will ease the burden of flat buyersrdquo demanded the Watchdog FoundationThe other sideDr Rajendra Bhosale Mumbai suburban district collector said ldquoAs far as MahaRERA is concerned my role is limited to the lsquorevenue recoveryrsquo process which I will be expediting at my level hereafter upon receiving such recovery orders from MahaRERArdquo On the memorandum submitted by the Watchdog Foundation Dr Bhosale said ldquoAs a representative of the government at district level all representations have to be made to the government through district collector I will send the representation received to the concerned department in the state government for further actionrdquoldquoWe will continue to check the status of our Memorandum by filing RTI and regular follow ups with the Suburban Collector and State Governmentrdquo Pimenta concluded