Mumbai: Why this Gudi Padwa won't spell good news for builders

With Gudi Padwa one of the biggest festivals when builders launch their projects only a month from now the Bombay High Courtrsquos restraining order on the BMC to not issue IOD and CC for new construction comes as a major blow to the real estate sector Hardly two weeks ago the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with the buildersrsquo body MCHI to construct more than 6 lakh affordable homesRepresentational picThe division bench of Bombay High Court on Monday stayed new construction because the state government and BMC have failed to comply with the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling rules at the Deonar and Mulund dumping grounds which are working well past their capacityBuilders feel they are being targeted for no fault of theirs ldquoThe government and the BMC should be penalised They have collected more than Rs 10000 crore in form of development fees premium on FSI and other such things and still havenrsquot been able to find a new dumping ground Why should builders suffer for their faultrdquo questions Rajesh Vardhan Managing Director of Vardhaman buildersAnother builder added that the situation for real estate developers is bad anyways with low sales across the city and this is a dampener especially during the Gudi Padwa festival ldquoDuring Padwa we builders launch our new projects But when the builders are not going to be issued IOD or CC how will we launch new projects This will spoil not only our market but will also affect the home buyers who wait for festive season to purchase a homerdquo said another builderArqam Shaikh architect from ARC associates claimed that if IOD and CC are not issued then no construction in Mumbai will take place ldquoIOD and CC are most important aspects for starting real construction of the building Unless one gets it the construction cannot commence Submitting a file to the BMC wonrsquot make any sense if IOD and CC arenrsquot issued This means no construction work will start in Mumbai in the near futurerdquo he saidBuilders fear that this will unnecessary burden them as many have bought land on interest and more the delay more they will suffer financiallyRais Shaikh Samajwadi group leader in BMC and the corporator from Deonar area said ldquoItrsquos because the SenaBJP led BMC and the state government didnrsquot find solution for the dumping ground issue that the whole of Mumbairsquos development has got stuck nowrdquoMCHIrsquos members held an emergency meet at their office in Marine Lines on Tuesday evening In the meeting ways of tacking the issue were discussed However they didnrsquot prefer talking to media One of the senior members of MCHI said ldquoWe havenrsquot yet got the order copy Unless we get it we wonrsquot comment on itrdquo