RERA is regulation, not strangulation:Vice president Venkaiah Naidu

Seeking to allay fears among builders over the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA), Vice president M Venkaiah Naidu today said "it is a regulation and not strangulation."

Speaking at the 27th All India Builders' Convention of Builders' Association of India, he said some fly-by-night operators were misusing the confidence reposed in them by consumers, bringing a bad name to the entire industry.

"I must assure you that Real Estate Regulation is for promotion and not for strangulation for the development of the country....," he said.

Asserting that everyone has started welcoming RERA, he said initially there would be some problems, which would be overcome in due course of time and the system would be simplified.

He pointd out that several income tax concessions,rebates and relaxations have been given to boost the housing sector.

In this context, he said there was enough money with banks due to demonetisation. "That was the objective behind demonetization," he said.

"The objective was to bring the money back to the bank with the address. 'Paisa Pata Ke saath Aya, Pita Ke Saath Aya, Pati Ke Saath Bank me Pahunch Gaya' (Money returned to the bank with the addresses,with the father and husband),"he said.

He asked RBI to make clear the amount of black and white money it has received and hoped it would  complete the work at the earliest.

Naidu said the union government was working towards a single window clearances to remove exploitation, corruption, middlemen and unwanted delay in approvals.

"We are working towards bringing transparency.There should not be delay.If anybody does not give approval within 60 days, it should be deemed approval and action taken against the person. That is the long-term aim of the government."

He said there was a change in the thinking of the government and the policy makers that everything should not be left to them alone and "government has no business to be in the business."

"Government has no business to be in the business. That's why government wants to dispose of Air India also. Government constructing hotels, sugar factories, scooter factories and then incurring losses and putting taxes on people is not a good thing."

The Vice-President asked the real estate sector to curtail the speculative land rates as it was not helping anybody.

"Land rates have gone up like anything. They are not realistic. They are not helping the real estate sector. Due to your speculation, rates in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai are equivalent to Washington and New York."

He reminded people to gear up for his description of LPG.

"We are living in the LPG - Liberalisation, Privatization and Globalisation. You have to compete with the rest of the world and see that you do not lag behind."

Now that the FDI is allowed, others also will also come to compete with you. So you have to prove your efficiency and take care of the deficiency," he said.