CREDAI seeks PM intervention to curb black money in realty biz

New Delhi: CREDAI, the apex body for real estate developers, on Thursday sought Prime Minister's intervention to bring reforms for curbing black money in the realty sector.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) suggested reforms in four key areas that impact the real estate - administrative, land, tax and banking.

"The economic reforms initiated by Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister over 20 years ago have seen the end of the Licence Raj, but the real estate sector is still governed by controls and increased controls," CREDAI President Mr Lalit Kumar Jain said in a statement.

He regretted that industry's demand for quick approvals of project through single-window clearnce system has received poor response from authorities like the Environment Ministry.

"We are victims of the system, not the beneficiaries! We hate this system which makes us look ugly. We curse every person who exploits us to give us a legitimate permission which we deserve instantly and without any illegitimate demand," Jain observed.

CREDAI has been pointing out that there are over 40 clearances that a developer is supposed to get which leads to human interaction with over 150 officials at various stages.

"Any delay at any stage obviously gives rise to 'greasing of palms' as the developer is always anxious to finish his project in time and avoid delays," Jain said, while appealing to the Prime Minister to urgently call for discussions on comprehensive reforms for realty sector.

Commenting on the recent White Paper on Black Money, CREDAI said: "It is a good attempt at focusing the nation?s attention on the issue, but it unfortunately picks on the real estate and deals with just a couple of issues like the Stamp Duty as though that is the only cause of the problem".

Jain lamented that the developer community has become a favourite punching bag for many whenever they talk about the national curse. "We too hate the system that labels us as crooks, cheats and breeders of black money," he said.

PTI

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/business/realestate/latest-news/credai-seeks-pm-intervention-to-curb-black-money-in-realty-biz_48720.html