According to the buyer fraternity, the EMI waiver is necessary, as possession is getting indefinitely delayed.
In an emotionally charged letter addressed to the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA) has asked the government to instruct all banks to stop collecting EMIs from homebuyers who have not yet got possession of their flats.
According to the buyer fraternity, several politicians, including Jaitley, had reiterated in the past that the government would be sympathetic towards them until they got possession.
The letter also alludes to the fact that though the BJP government had hinged its election manifesto on the "Achhe Din" promise, no positive developments have been seen so far in Uttar Pradesh. The letter further stated that in Noida and Greater Noida, there were more than 5 lakh homebuyers who were paying EMIs to banks without any hope of getting flats in the near future.
“Moreover, many leading builders have either become bankrupt or serving jail sentences. As a result, construction work at the sites has been disrupted and we have lost all hope,” said an anxious homebuyer.
Talking to City Spidey, Abhishek Kumar, president of NEFOWA, said that flat buyers had already paid around 95 per cent of the total amount to developers. “Most buyers come from middle class backgrounds and live in rented houses. Therefore, paying EMIs to the bank translates to a heavy financial burden on them,” said Kumar.
Sharing a particularly sad experience of one such buyer, Kumar said, “Yogesh Singh, a cancer patient, breathed his last in December, as he could not afford to spend any further on his treatment. He had fought for possession even while he was undergoing his treatment. He had to stop his treatment in December, as all his savings had been exhausted. Ironically, Singh had invested his savings on a dream home he did not live to see. If our demand is not fulfilled by the finance minister, there will be more such unfortunate deaths.”
