TREMENDOUS LOOTING OF BUILDERS UNDER THE PROTECTION 0F RERA, INCOME TEX THEFT WORTH CRORES RAMPANT BY BUILDERS

TREMENDOUS LOOTING OF BUILDERS UNDER THE PROTECTION 0F RERA

INCOME TEX THEFT WORTH CRORES RAMPANT BY

BUILDERS

 

CHHOTA AKHBAR.

To protect against looting by builders and land mafia, the Government of India implemented the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act in 2016 so that the interests of house and land owners can be protected under the supervision of RERA.

It is a matter of regret that the RERA authority, which was responsible for stopping looting, has itself become a huge den of loot today. As a result, under the protection of RERA, builders are mercilessly squeezing people who are waiting for houses. Due to the negligence and indifference of RERA, the arbitrariness of the builders has increased and they are not only defrauding the home owners, besides saving thousands of crores of rupees of income tax every year, they are throwing dust in the eyes of the Income Tax Department.

During the time of retired IAS and former Chief Secretary Nihal Chand Goyal, builders got a lot of opportunities to loot. About 3 thousand projects are registered under RERA. If there are 300 plots or houses in one scheme, the total number comes to around 10 lakhs. There is talk in the market that to approve a project, it is mandatory to offer a minimum of Rs 5 to 10 crore. After offering and worshiping, the builders get the license to rob.

In this way, by giving approval for registration and residency, RERA officials collected Rs 2500 crore as Dakshina. It was expected that after the arrival of new RERA Chairman Vinoo Gupta, looting would be curbed. But the opposite happened. RERA has now become synonymous with loot. The main objective of this authority is to collect money. RERA has no interest in protecting consumers or protecting their interests. Veenu Gupta was appointed Chairman of RERA by the then Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during the election process.

 

Today about five hundred regencies or enclaves are being developed in Jaipur city alone. Countless gated townships are developing around Agra Road, Sirsi, Goner, Gandhi Path, Vatika, Shivdaspura, Bhankrota, Jaisinghpura, Mahapura, Mahendra SEZ, Madau, Muhana and Journalist Colony. Well, many builders are active. But most of the townships are being developed by Gokul Kripa Group. It has dozens of offices in Jaipur and more than two thousand marketing people. This group has illegally occupied hundreds of feet of government land below Mansarovar Metro Station. No one is allowed to park their vehicles except the employees of this group.

It has been learned that builders have to pay around Rs 7,000 per square yard of land and Rs 2,500 per square foot for a flat or villa. Plots are being sold at Rs 30 to 45 thousand per square yard. That means a profit of Rs 25 thousand per square yard. Whereas no proper income tax is paid on this profit. Roughly, every year builders defraud the Income Tax Department of more than Rs 50 thousand crores.

The main function of RERA is to see whether basic facilities are being provided in the township or not. When we observed Rupraj, Kasli, Abhimanyu, Aran, Raj Angan and King etc. of Journalist Colony, we came to know that God is the owner of these townships. Neither the roads have been completed nor the parks have been constructed. There is no arrangement for entrance gate, drain, park, cleanliness etc. in Rupraj. A guard has been posted in the name of the employee. Installing CCTV cameras is a long way off. Due to the collusion of RERA and builders, residents of the Residency are deprived of basic facilities.

 

REPORTED BY - Mahesh Jhalani