From No Deal to big deal

The December 11 campaign against real estate irregularities gets a huge response from the common man

No Deal Day, the campaign by three young corporatesu00a0-- Sailaja Mannava, Nikunj Bubna and Pramod Sharma of Purpleswarms, a consumer service firmu00a0-- to raise their voice against irregularities in the real estate industry on December 11, garnered a big response from Mumbaikars. At last count, the 'No Deal Day' page on the Purpleswarms website received 26,000 hits, and over 250 comments.


The trio of Sailaja Mannava, Nikunj Bubna and Pramod Sharma

MiD DAY was the first to report the campaign on November 19. Since then, fifteen lakh SMSes and 10 lakh emails have been sent out, as well as internal mails among 70 corporates about the crusade.

Ajay Chaturvedi, a real estate expert says, "This was a campaign to raise awareness among the common man."
The crusader trio now plans to take a charter of demands to the President of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing and Industry, Sunil Mantri, the apex body ofu00a0 builders.

However, brokers claim this will hardly affect their business. "Such initiatives are good, but since buying a house is a personal decision, not many will stop buying for a day. Ideally, the campaign should have been against the price rise. Prices are inflated and have to come down," said an Andheri-based broker, on condition of anonymity.

For the trio though, the response itself has been encouraging. "We wanted to create awareness among the aam aadmi. We have mobilised public opinion using the power of unity and thank everyone for the overwhelming response."

They add, "Although we acknowledge that this initiative may be too small to solve the deep-rooted housing problem, the fact that industry representatives are ready to have a constructive discussion on this issue seems like a step in the right direction. Now we just hope more people are able to fulfill their aspiration of buying a home at reasonable prices in Mumbai."

Comments on the site
"I strongly support the cause. It is getting highly impossible for a middle class man to own a house. We have to move out of Mumbai." --u00a0Nilesh Kubal

"Prices have shot up by 200 per cent in one year. It has become impossible for a person to buy a 1 bhk flat in Mumbai, even with a 10 lakh per annum salary. So what will be the fate of people with less?u00a0 -- VSS