State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said on Tuesday that Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) would serve the purpose of the consumers and the builders at the same time. “Whosoever has registered under RERA has understood its positive aspects and realised how much protection they would get from the law as well. Whosoever working in the real estate should get registered under this act,” he said while addressing a workshop on RERA organised by a private bank during which cheques worth between Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh were distributed by the minister among four beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY). While Atul Tiwari and Naveen Chandra among the beneficiaries were from Haridwar Promod Uniyal and Pradeep Choudhary were from Dehradun.
He at the same time warned those realtors who are still dithering over registration to get registered immediately to avoid problems. “To facilitate them, we have decided to create a help desk and a toll free number would be made available too. To educate the people about the act, such workshops are being organised in three districts – Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Haridwar. If it is required the officers will visit the districts to help those engaged in real estate business get a better understanding with all their queries answered,” he said.
He further said that so far, only 168 developers and 40 agents have registered themselves under RERA. “As per the central norms, the state government might consider extending its registration period to protect the interest of the new consumers and the builders,” he said.
“State government’s objective is build one lakh house for the homeless people by 2022. Under RERA, we can achieve this with the help of the private builders. Tata has expressed its desire to build 5000 such houses in Uttarkahand.
Kaushik reiterated that Goods & Service Tax (GST), RERA and Swachchh Bharat Mission (SBM) are the three most important things for both the Centre and the state government. “Uttarakhand is a good state for business, industry and social security. We are number one in social security. Whenever we get complaint related to social security we take prompt action,” he added.
He stated that the state government has been carrying forward the Centre’s policies and the flagship projects, besides running its own programmes, something that is taking the nation on the path of progress. “The State Government has taken several policy measures to encourage the inflow of investment into various sectors of its economy. Real estate is an important area we are laying thrust on,” he said.
Speaking of the affordable housing scheme, Kaushik said that the state having a tremendous market potential, the government has a ready buyer segment. “The developers thus have nothing to worry about finding a market as far as the affordable housing scheme is concerned. The state government would provide them with ready buyers. We are for fostering the human and the natural resources in a balanced way to build an ideal ground for inclusive growth,” he said.
“State had been able to meet all the timelines in implementing RERA-2017 by passing some rules and establishing the central state regulatory body UHUDA with all other agencies like MDDA and SADA falling under its preview. The process of forming applet tribunal and creation of RERA fund is on. It would come up soon,” the Minister said.
The workshop was attended among others by MDDA VC Vinay Shankar Pandey, secretary Prakash Chandra Dumka, additional secretary Housing Sunil S Panthari, HDFC head Ramendra Singh and programme manager Kailash Pandey aside from several builders and their representatives.