Credai's war in corruption:
- “One day, we will all say: Ataa mazhi satakli!”, says Lalit Kumar Jain
- “We shall win respect for our profession”
- Onus on GenX developers
- Determined drive for realty reforms launched at Barcelona convention
Taking a cue from anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal, builders and developers body, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (Credai) has given a call to its members not to bribe corrupt officials for getting clearances.
“We have had enough of the charge that builders breed corruption,” said Credai national President Lalit Kumar Jain, disclosing that he had conducted a survey among the developer community on saying flatly “No” to corruption. Many members positively reacted and some said: “Together, we shall.”
He asked developers not to be silent watchers of corruption and exploitation and not to back-stab competitors. He was addressing Credai’s National Convention at Barcelona, recently. Credai hosts two conventions annually, one in India and the other abroad to go in search of learning from developments in a foreign country.
Drawing inspiration also from Bollywood blockbuster and Ajay Devgan starrer “Singham”, Jain told his fellow developers: “One day, all of you will say Ataa Maazhi Satakli (loosely translated: 'Now I am losing my temper!') when someone asks you for money for doing favours.”
He recalled that there was a lot of skepticism when he embarked on “Mission Transparency” for the developer community and the government 18 months ago. But today, the mission has been well accepted, judging from the fact that a majority of developers across the country have accepted the Credai code of conduct for themselves and the various state and city units are setting up consumer grievance cells to proactively settle disputes out of court.
Similarly, he said, one day all developers will say no to corruption and the day is not far off. Jain said the onus to fight corruption is particularly much more on the young developers than the older generations.
He pointed out that Credai and its state chapters untiring efforts post the last Singapore NATCON, governments in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh have started moving to set up single window system for building clearances. Various governments are now discussing the comprehensive check-list presented by Credai. Quoting a McKinsey report he said with the population crossing 1.2 billion in 2011, the total shortage of dwelling units in urban areas will be 38 million units by 2030 in comparison to 24.71 million in 2007.
On the part of the government, he explained that there is an immediate need to implement administrative reforms to check the menace of corruption and said we had enough of committees after committees. “Now is the time for the government to act at once,” he added.