Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Stay Firm Real Estate, War is On!

“Most people are not fools, is the first thing a ruler must understand while making policies”...

Well, it’s now season 2 of lock down diaries with extension of lock down period to another 21 days by our Hon PM & I am no more envying him or his post now & I am sure many will agree with me. Rather, I have full sympathy for him as to carry a country of 130 crores across a disaster, is something more herculean task than lifting "gowardhan parbat" which Lord Krishna did to save Dwarka from floods, as per our mythology. And incidentally Dwarka too was from Gujarat State, so must be Lord Krishna. Oh, if Modi fans are happy with my analogy & Modi opponents angry, I am sorry for both as its just coincidence but that doesn’t takes away the mammothness of task of being head of country like ours & makes policies in such crisis times!

Well, once again as officially lockdown period has been extended by one cycle i.e. 21 days (it was expected at least in our Smart City Pune) & on very next day its reflections are seen on the roads! I don’t read news paper or watch news channels, have stopped doing that from 1st week of March, even don’t open images or messages related so on whatsap yet two images of newspaper snaps I opened as couldn’t guess what it is until I opened them! The very next morning of announcement of extension of lockdown, news was thousands of people coming on streets to demand their way back to respective hometowns from "aamchi mumbai"! And the system (police) was helpless to stop this coming together on streets in lockdown times as this is not China or Russia or British Raaj to shoot people if they don’t follow laws & come together on roads for protest. And then the people have come on road to demand way back to their homes & in this country you don’t shoot even hard core criminals that easily, so shooting innocent (read as fools) poor people is out of question. But issue is somewhere the mindset of most people was like after 14^th they will be able to move out & that was a mistake by both sides to allow to make them think so! At the same time most of these people were from slums & illegal settlements with no liveable conditions & life is a hell is a fact. At least by now the govt must demolish (read as start) all slums & illegal settlements & see that no new illegal constructions happens, so as no one will be needed to be un-happy while living in their own home, during next need of lockdown times, which was the main reason of unrest at present!

As usual there will be allegations & counter allegations about this protests as supreme ruling party (well again who we call ruling party is a debate as in State & Centre we have different ruling parties) read as in Delhi says its political set up where as opposition says its anguish of common man & both are happy with their assumptions!! And then a circular on whatsap come from maai baap govt ( I wonder whether the govt's official communication platform is now whatsap as so fast every govt order or policy is available on whatsap) that No Lockdowns for projects i.e. sites i.e. construction works in Municipal limits (Pune/Mumbai etc) can be started from 20th April! Obviously it came with a “*” i.e. Star-Mark, conditions apply, and there are many except really meaningful & practical. Main thing is, no labours can come from outside of site but just the one which are living on site can work & with proper social distancing care taken, blah blah!

Great, thank you for allowing poor builders (well that’s least I can use for builders now) must be relieved that finally site work started & then so many needy hands will get work which can feed hungry stomachs (actually for empty mind which was main cause of worry), noble thought indeed! Keeping due respect for this noble step (as usual) there are few issues which every developer along with labours, contractors & vendors will ask & yes the flat holders as well home buyers too! Sir, how we proceed for the work from 20^th April when in city like Pune there is curfew & no one can go out of home except police pass which again also is not allowed in red zone i.e. high sensitive area. That system has to be in place as well the order says no new labours are allowed from out station, well that’s fine but then what’s use as most labours are already fled or in mood of leaving cities like Pune. In this mindset how they will work in first place. As well there are other issues like material supply chain right from the one which is coming from outside of city limit & for civil work right from cement, steel, sand, khadi everything comes from out station & with boundaries of city as well districts sealed how that’s going to happen? Nothing is clear except an order (announcement) that you can start construction work at sites! And then most important aspect sir, from where the money is going to be there for the construction work? As already the banks are sending messages for their EMI’s of project finance where as with this lockdown of nearly fifty days, entire working including recovery is at standstill as work was stand still. Then we will have to deal with increased rates of labours as well transport as very les man power is willingly available to work & on top of it to sale the new flats! Oh yes & the majority of construction industry (real estate) goes on WIP i.e. work in progress accounting system in which the money put in construction is considered for charging income tax & after completion of the project the sale is booked. Weird but there are many such things about real estate so let it be, point is in such case there is burden of income tax on my own money which I am using for construction & no sale, so again a big dent. And then there are RERA authorities & more than those ever vigilant aware flat holders to deal with! Indeed the job of a builder(read as any business man for now) may not be as tough as our Hon PM’s but then its surely not simple as any salaried person also, this you should take in account.

Rather in these times FOR ONE YEAR NO INETEST SHOULD BE CHARGED ON ANY CONSTRUCTION RELATED FINANACE ON ANY CURRENT LOANS BY ANY BANK as that much burden the govt must take for the herculean job real estate (read as any business) has to face ahead, especially in Metros! At the same time RERA authorities also must give six months extension minimum to all the projects as the impact is bound to be there for longer time. My suggestion of waving interest on loans for a year (read as demand) may sound absurd but look at the hurdles as agreed no govt can take guaranty of the sale of the project (or any commodity) but then no govt has been needed to declare total lockdown of the country for more than two months & no country (I mean till now) has faced the threat of epidemic in such a way where the entire social life will be at threat is also a fact, we must consider while deciding finance policy for this year! At the same time reduced rates finance on priority must be made available to the developers for short term i.e. two to three years & on priority basis & all this must come as an order for by the RBI or Finance Dept to every bank (govt or private or cooperative) as if this comes in guidelines then we all know how the guidelines are treated by the banks, especially nationalized ones!

At the same time it doesn’t mean the builders & vendors & contractors should sit relaxed & wait for govt’s support. High time to work on reduced profits (well, that was already there) & not to try to bleed the builders on work front, the later part is applicable to labour contractors (and clients also)! The builders must take in confidence his labours & see that first they are safe & in good mental condition & for that a dialogue with labours has to be there. Take site meetings, make small videos of your sharing for them as well for your team & your clients & let them know that you are standing firm to complete the project as then only they will support you as well you will have moral right to demand support from the govt!

Agreed these are hard times for every business or profession but then no war is won without any wound & no wound is healed without suffering pain, but it’s only after winning the war the fruits of victory can be enjoyed; just mind it “mai baap govt” & face the war together!

My appeal to my site labours on link below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nieNCCOAtLo

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..

https://youtu.be/al0NZ-7Zhq0

Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2019/11/infrastructure-development-real-estate.html