Rahul Gandhi assures support for real estate bill to homebuyers

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met the representatives of flat owners’ associations of the twin cities and extended his support to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) bill. The homebuyers of the twin cities have started a movement by uploading video messages on twitter to pass the bill. HT was the first to report about the online movement. The homebuyers had also planned a protest against Gandhi if the opposition halts the proceedings of Parliament in the Budget session blocking the RERA bill.

“Gandhi told us not to worry and assured that the Congress party was never against the RERA bill. He said if the government tables the Bill in the Parliament, he will support it without ant second thoughts,” said Abhishek Kumar, president new era flat owners association (NEFOWA).

The flat owners had started the movement ‘Fight for Rera’ online and created a hashtag ‘#passrerabill’ on twitter to tag video messages to all politician concerned.

“Following his assurance, we have cancelled our protest against him, which was scheduled on March 5 at Jantar Mantar. Now we are trying to meet union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu to convince him to table the bill in the Budget session,” said Shweta Bharti, member of flat owners’ association.

Members of the flat owners association said they will meet everyone possible to get the Bill passed.

“There is no rule to safeguard the middle class families’ entire life’s saving which they are investing to buy a flat. Ninety per cent of the builders here are defaulter and have delayed the possession,” said Abhay Upadhyay, member of the delegation of flat owners’ association which met Gandhi on Thursday.

The RERA Bill proposes creation of state-level regulatory authorities whom homebuyers can approach with their complaints. This authority will be empowered to prosecute and punish real estate developers for deficiency in service. The bill was cleared by the cabinet last year but it was not tabled in the Parliament because of debates on various issues and the opposition disrupting the proceedings. The central Cabinet had passed the RERA Bill last year and it is pending to be cleared by Parliament.

“It is the need of the hour. Its the job of the government and the opposition to assure a safe investment for homebuyers. Whoever is found blocking the Bill, we will stage a protest against them,” said Indrish Gupta, a member of the delegation.