Representatives of Fight For RERA, a pan-India team of RERA activists, on August 25 met top ministers to discuss the intricacies of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill.
The representatives — Abhay Upadhyay from Kolkata, General SK Bahri from Gurgaon, Muraridhar Rao from Bengaluru, BT Sriniwasan from Hyderabad, MS Shankar from Mangalore, Ramesh Prabhu from Mumbai, OP Bangur from Visakhapatnam and Colonel Tejandra Pal Tyagi from Ghaziabad — met Rao Inderjit Singh, minister of State, housing; Rajeev Ranjan Mishra, joint secretary, housing; Praveen Prakash, joint secretary, Swachta Abhiyan; and member of parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, to discuss the Bill details.
At the meeting, the activists pointed out that real estate developers were concealing RERA's scope from homebuyers. Abhay Upadhyay, national convenor of Fight For RERA, said that RERA had been developed to address the grievances of homebuyers and hence its rules must apply to all ongoing projects.
Activists also demanded that the role of the AOA (Apartment Owners Association) should be clearly defined in the rules and that the AOA should have the right to represent the owners registered with it.
Colonel TP Tyagi, president of the federation of AOAs, Ghaziabad, and FIGHT For RERA co-founder, said that RERA's role was widespread and a matter of public interest, as the real estate business affected more than 10 lakh homebuyers every year.
Rao Inderjit Singh, minister of State, housing, took note of the suggestions and agreed that most urban families were affected by the builders' callous attitude. The minister and the joint secretary promised to work on the suggestions and do their best for the common good.