Post-Adarsh scam, Chavan reassures builders

MUMBAI - With the builders in Maharashtra running scared in the aftermath of the Adarsh Housing Society scam, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Friday sought to assure that those who came up with “genuine projects” would get approval by the government.

Addressing a meeting of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry here, Chavan took pains to assure the states top builders that the government was not against legal and transparent projects.

He also categorically denied reports in some sections of the media (not in IANS) that builders were barred from entering all state government offices, the chief ministers office and the state government headquarters Mantralaya.

“These are baseless rumours and I dont know from where they emanated. I have not imposed any such ban, Chavan asserted, adding the doors of his office were open not only for builders, but also individuals coming forth with legal and valid projects at all times.

The chief minister declared that builders and realtors were an important section of the states infrastructure development and the state was aware of their contribution in all fields.

However, Chavan made it clear that all such project must be genuine, transparent, within the legal framework and timebound in implementation.

Chavan said that the government had no grudges if the builders earned reasonable profits out of their ventures, but any attempts to reap huge profits by manipulating the laws would not be tolerated.

Top MCHI builders have expressed apprehensions off-the-record in the past few months that their work has suffered greatly after the Adarsh Co-Operative Housing Society scam in which the involvement of top politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnel came to the fore.

“After the Adarsh Society scam, the builders community has been treated like a pariah and we are not entertained in most government departments. As a result, our projects worth crores of rupees have been indefinitely held up as the concerned officials are scared of granting the permissions,” a leading developer told IANS, requesting anonymity.

Others have said that several small and large housing projects in the public-private sector have also been indefinitely delayed with permissions from various departments not forthcoming despite all documents being in order, especially in the western suburbs.

The delays in these projects have created panic among the builders who have made investments and the prospective lower, middle and upper-middle class buyers who have made part-payments for securing a shelter through such schemes.

After a patient hearing to their grievances, Chavan assured the MCHI office-bearers, including G. L. Raheja, Dharmesh Jain, Nayan Shah, Paras Gundecha, Madhur Shah, Deepak Goradia, Niranjan Hiranandani, Praveen Doshi and others that they would be given all help in the matter.

Present at the meeting were top state officials from the CMO, Urban Development, Revenue, Finance, Environment, Housing, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, MHADA, slum redevelopment authority and others.