In Greater Noida, meanwhile, the delay has taken a taken a toll on Singh, both mentally as well as financially. “I have been paying monthly loan instalments as well as rent," he laments, adding that every month he has to shell out Rs18,000 on rent and almost an equivalent amount on EMIs. “All I wanted was to buy a house," he says. And after a decade, all he have is a complete mess, he says. The Supreme Court highlighted the real estate mess in its verdict in 2019. “Bank has made payment to the builder, owners have the liability of making payment of amount with interest, homebuyers are still waiting for their dream houses to be completed," the court pointed out.
Image: Amit Verma
Back in Gurugram, Anil Jain reckons real estate is the biggest scam in independent India. The businessman booked a flat Raheja Shilas in Sector 109, Gurugram, in 2011. It has been more than a decade and the 59-year-old is still awaiting possession. Though it’s valid to find out why it happened, Jain underlines, the larger question that nobody is asking is why such a real estate mess was allowed to happen. “There is another crisis that is going unnoticed," says Jain, alluding to thousands of homebuyers who have started living in apartments which are yet to get OC (occupancy certificate) from the local authorities. What it simple means, Jain explains, is having a property that can’t be registered. “You will continue to pay EMIs on a flat that legally and technically will never be yours," he says.
Jain is pointing to another aspect of the housing scam in India. The homebuyers took loans, the builders never delivered flats on time and the consumers had no choice but to live in housing societies which still don’t have any legal status. “Well, there were families staying. So we too shifted," says Anurag Pandey, one of the homebuyers in Greater Noida, explaining his move to shift into a building which was yet to get clearance from local authorities in 2019. It has been over three years, and the builder is yet to get an OC. Pandey, who runs a garment store, now sounds disillusioned. “There is no news yet and I don’t know if OC will ever come," he says, adding that the builder doesn’t have funds to clear the dues and get the nod.
Hemant Kumar, a consumer rights activist in Noida, explains why even enactment of RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016) could not make much dent in solving these woes. “Who will break the builder, banker, official and politician nexus," he asks. While the demolition of the Twin Towers in August this year conveyed a strong message, the move was largely symbolic. “Did it break the nexus?" he asks. The problem, Kumar reckons, is with lack of political might of the thousands of middle class families who are not looked upon by politicians as vote banks. ‘Why should anybody care about these homebuyers," he asks. The problem has been there for decades but has been conveniently ignored by authorities. “They would have lost much even if they happen to win one fine day," underlines Kumar, alluding to the plight of the homebuyers.
Back in Gurugram, Tete reckons she is not going down without fighting. “It’s my hard-earned money and I will keep fighting till my last breath," she says. “Justice might get delayed. But I still believe it can never be denied."
First Published: Oct 10, 2022, 15:54
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