PM Modi Urges Officials to Ensure Full Redressal of Homebuyers' Grievances

NEW DELHI: The monthly Pragati meeting on Wednesday turned out to be a reality check for real estate regulators (Reras) with PM Narendra Modi asking probing questions to top state officials, including if they have ever tried to find out whether homebuyers are satisfied with the “disposal” of complaints.

Modi also pointed out how just totting-up redressal numbers wasn’t enough. The PM directed all state chief secretaries to hold regular reviews and ensure that there is “complete redressal” of homebuyers’ grievances. Sources said to the discomfort of officials, the PM, while reviewing “issues related to Reras”, said realtors send complaints to him how some Rera officers do not listen to them until “arrangements (vyavastha)” are made.

He instructed the chief secretaries to look into this serious issue. In a statement, the PMO said Modi emphasized on the need to improve quality and timeliness of disposal of grievances related to the real estate sector to ensure justice and fairness for homebuyers. “The PM emphasized that strict compliance with Rera provisions is critical for restoring trust in the housing market,” it added. The PM’s call for assessing the quality of disposal of consumer complaints by Reras comes at a time when questions are being raised about the effectiveness of real estate regulators in executing their orders.

This issue has been raised in meetings of the government’s central advisory committee of Rera. As per housing ministry data till May 26, a little over 1.43 lakh complaints have been disposed of. It doesn’t give the number of complaints filed. “If they put the status of a complaint as disposed of, then they must ensure that the homebuyer concerned has got compensation or possession of property. After passing orders, they put complaints under the disposed of category. We have been challenging this methodology,” said M S Shankar, general secretary of FPCE, an umbrella homebuyers organization that had campaigned for the enactment of real estate regulation law.

TOI has learned that the PM also raised questions on whether all real estate projects are getting registered with the respective Reras, a mandatory requirement. Pointing out to the much less registration of projects in Uttar Pradesh compared to Maharashtra, Modi asked chief secretaries to deploy people to check the project details of builders from their websites and see whether all are registered. He asked states to ensure the mandatory registration of all eligible real estate projects under the Rera Act, the PMO said.

While reviewing the Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power project, the PM also asked the education ministry to include atomic energy in school syllabus to bust the myth of radiation around nuclear power and make this more acceptable to people at large. He said that the country will need nuclear energy to meet the power demand. Highlighting the adverse impact of project delays such as the Integrated Anandapur Barrage Project, which is yet to be completed after more than 20 years and increase in cost from merely Rs 590 crore to Rs 3,000 crore now, the PM reiterated that such setbacks deprive citizens of essential services and infrastructure. Sources said he also pointed to how the same issues of land acquisition, forest, and other clearances are flagged for delay in completion of most infrastructure projects. “The PM said these need to be resolved by officers themselves,” a source added.

TOI has learned that Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan on Wednesday gave an update on the actions taken after the last Pragati meeting in which the PM had issued directions. Sources said Somanathan informed that officers have been deployed for visiting different states to take stock of Jal Jeevan Mission projects. The PM had flagged in the last meeting that he had been receiving several complaints regarding piped drinking water programs in rural areas and had sought field visits of Central government officers to find the nature of problems and to suggest solutions. Sources said a large share of complaints identified were no supply of water even after laying of pipelines, homes still waiting for getting taps within premises, and bad quality water. They added that Somanthan also told the PM that a module on land acquisition is being prepared to train new recruit civil servants and also to improve land records in border areas in Arunachal Pradesh.