PATNA: Registration of real estate projects and real estate agents is going on at a snail’s pace in the state. It has been five months since the full-fledged Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) came into effect in the state, but only 140 ongoing projects and 10 real estate agents have so far procured licences under Section 3 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016.
According to RERA-Bihar officials, around 626 builders and promoters have applied for registration of their ongoing projects since April.
Rajiva Bhushan Sinha, a RERA-Bihar member, said the main reason behind slow processing of real estate projects was shortage of manpower. “Shortage of staff at RERA-Bihar has led to delay in scrutiny of application forms submitted by the by the builders and promoters. RERA-Bihar chairman Afzal Amanullah has written several times to the urban development and housing department to recruit of more staff for office work, but to no avail,” he said.
Amanullah said the Authority had submitted the last proposal to the state government for staff recruitment in April. “I hope that the proposal will be approved in the next state cabinet meeting,” he said.
Amanullah added the most time-taking job is scrutiny of application forms which are full of discrepancies. “The builder and promoters are providing wrong details regarding finance, type of project and commencement of the project. Some of them have submitted incomplete and fake documents. RERA-Bihar is functioning with just seven staff, including two members. In most cases, the staff visit the construction sites to verify the authenticity of information,” he said.
“Many builders and promoters apply for new projects. However, upon physical verification of their projects, it is found that the projects are half-done and the builders are already getting income from them,” Amanullah added.
RERA-Bihar is also planning to develop its website and rope in a private company to build a database of ongoing projects in the state. The Authority has started collecting information from urban local bodies and development authorities about the ongoing real estate projects under their respective jurisdictions.
Source from : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/lack-of-staff-hits-rera-work/articleshow/65535797.cms
