This refers to Vinayak Chatterjee's column "Getting real about real estate" (Infratalk, April 21). Indian infrastructure, like housing and land, is a revenue generator. Practically every urban development authority with the local government only looks to siphon off cash every year under the pretext of education tax and other levies. Even a simple act of development needs several clearances from various agencies. Fees need to be paid at every step as well and you need to grease the palms of officials to move the file from one table to another.
Ask any architect or builder and you will see how difficult it is to play a fair game with the authorities and get approvals for proposed projects. Some banks have a clear agenda before sanctioning a loan and good standards for consumer protection. I feel that the Real Estate (Regulations and Development) Bill will be just another hurdle.
Let us hope that one more permit or licence rule to govern the infrastructure sector is not created because it is not needed.
Dushyant Nathwani Vadodara
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