Anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania on Friday urged more than 1,768 home buyers, whose money has been stuck in arrested builder Lalit Tekchandani's Clan City project, to jointly approach the government and seek its intervention in getting the languishing project restarted. Fourteen years on, the buyers are yet to get their dream homes in Taloja, Navi Mumbai.
The case against Lalit Tekchandani
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized cash and froze bank balances and fixed deposits of a total worth of Rs30 crore in raids at 22 locations linked to Tekchandani. The ED found out that M/Supreme Construction and Developer Pvt Ltd collected huge funds of over Rs400 crore from more than 1,700 buyers. Delays in the project left these people in the lurch without flats or refunds. “The preliminary PMLA investigation revealed that the funds received from the buyers were siphoned off by the builder for personal gains and creation of assets in various names, including family members,” the ED said.
Damania asks govt to intervene
Addressing a jam-packed meeting of “we want justice, we want our homes” at the Shivaji Hall in the SNDT College, Ghatkopar, Damania plotted a future course of action to help families get their “rightful home”. She said, “The government must intervene and take responsibility. There is enough floor space index (FSI) still available in the project and the government must either appoint a new developer to complete the project or take it upon itself.” Benefits of extra FSI and other incentives can be given to the new developer, but the project must be closely monitored and supervised by the state government. Bottom line is that the construction should be completed and buyers must get their promised homes, she underlined.
Damania informed the buyers that in her recent interim budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned a new scheme for such stuck housing projects. “We can now explore and avail of a seed funding from the government to get them completed,” she said. The meeting also discussed the recent arrests of builders Lalit Tekchandani and Raju Kanchwala. “I also met Nishit Mishra, joint commissioner of Economic Offences Wing, and gave him a lot of data on where Tekchandani has moved the money that he collected from the buyers. We have tracked some 18 subsidiary companies and have given the list to EOW,” she added.
The activist said Tekchandani and Kanchwala have been “robbing the common people of hundreds of crore of rupees since 2010 years by showing them the dream of a house”. They were arrested 15 days ago. Four FIRs have been lodged against them. “Buyers have been paying EMIs for these years. It's time justice is given to them,” Damania asserted.
