Pankaj Kumar Gupta, an employee in private insurance company, dreamt of a house of his own; however, thanks to the issue of sand which has disturbed the cost-benefit balance of construction companies, Kumar’s dream house in all probability is unlikely to become realty.
For thousands of people like Gupta who landed in the city in search of job and now want to buy a dream house to spend rest of their life, owning a house is likely to become a dream difficult to realise. Thanks to ban on sand quarrying, construction companies have indicated a rise in prices of real estate if the matter is not resolved on a priority basis.
“With an annual income of around Rs 3 lakh I don’t think I can afford a flat at higher rates,” conceded Kumar.
According to Jharkhand chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), if the bottlenecks in the supply of sand are not removed on time it will lead to escalation in prices of real estate. As per CREDAI, fluctuations will be in the range of four to five percent on the prevailing rates if sand supply is not made smooth.
“Input cost has increased hence real estate price will definitely go up. Ironically, government has not taken these things into consideration which is a matter of great concern. Who will bear the burnt of price escalationIJ” said president of CREDAI, Kumud Jha.
Notably, sand has turned out to be the single biggest concern for the construction industry for the very nature of the problem created by Government. As the Government has put sand quarrying on hold due to environmental concerns, builders are finding it difficult to manage sand even at twice the inflated price.
“A dumper truck of sand that was priced at Rs 3500 is difficult to manage even at Rs 8500;” maintained Jha adding “work has stopped at many places putting the projects in the danger of getting delayed”.
As per the association real estate industry has witnessed price hike in the range of 10 to 12 per cent in one year while in the last three years it has gone up by 25 per cent.
Incidentally, quarrying of sand has been put on hold due to environmental clearances which is necessary for the companies awarded the tender of balu-ghats to begin mining and resume supply. The administration has even begun crackdown on violators of the injunction issued by Ministry of Forest & Environment.