Pune, Growth & Gadkari !

 

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“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.” …  Heath L. Buckmaster

Heath Buckmaster is a Marketing, Fundraising, and Business Development consultant, and an American Author of Young and Adult Fiction. Ok, leave apart Adult Fiction part of Heath’s career but what he wrote about becoming someone which may have been written in the context of a person but is applicable to many things even a city! And why I remembered Heath’s this quote is none other than our Hon. Transportation (roads) Union Minister, Mr. Nitin Gadkari!  Now we all know Nitin bhau (will take liberty of calling him with this fondly nick-name with my own roots from our common native place i.e., Nagpur) is man of mission & has done herculean task of building roads in this vast country with population touching 150 crores but what is it with change of personality & city, where is the connection, I can see the frowning faces of the readers!  Well, the reason is, recently Nitin bhau was in “aapale” (our) Pune as a Chief Guest of one of the Builder’s Association’s (Credai Pune) meet & the subject was real estate & role of infrastructure, as roads are one of the major infrastructure fronts for any country & so is real estate (though real estate never got glamour or credit for it, is different aspect) & who better than person like Nitin bhau can be there to speak about these two aspects which are growth engines of any country!

So, Nitin bhau came & spoke & living by his own way, “sidhi baat no bakwas” (strait from the heart) he bluntly said enough of buildings in Pune & the developers (read as builders) must look building homes beyond Pune, target villages in Western Maharashtra as the farmers here have good money & if builders build nice homes in their villages that can be win-win deal. As well, the builders should give away age-old methods of construction, must take support (not advantage) of new technology to reduce construction cost so home prices will be in control (of whom is another question). And he added, associations of builders should join hands with institutions like IIT for innovations  as well for R & D in the construction industry benefitting the end users i.e., home buyers. Nitin bhau also commented on the changed scene (read as condition) of Pune, how polluted it has become & what this city was meant to be & what it has become today & we need to take effort to give Pune its old charm. He also announced that nearly Rs 50,000 crore plus fly-over/ road networks will be built in & around Pune to reduce traffic congestion but that’s not the solution. He questioned (to whom) why there isn’t New Pune built by now as there is New Mumbai, around Mumbai & NOIDA around Delhi & why Pune is getting saturated in its existing form & yet people all around wants to come & settle here & why other regions are not getting developed (read as Nagpur) & things like that! First of all, what Nitin bhau said is true about Pune’s pollution or growth but keeping due respect, all these suggestions or questions he raised should have been asked to his own people or say Govt which is responsible for the way Pune is being developed & builders are just a pawn in this game, this is the reason of my sharing!

Nitin bahu, I must thanks to you as at least you openly mentioned the way things are happening around Pune & yet the city is preferred by many for their dream home, but who is at fault or blame, is subject of debate but let’s focus on the issues you have raised about Pune & builders as well other regions including Western Maharashtra Villages too, as maybe we can come up with some solutions which you only can use for the change! So, about the builders looking beyond Pune aspect, let me take you some forty odd years back when Pune was a city (but then all other cities today were towns or villages then) & if I remember even Nagpur was bigger than Pune on size, spread & trade then. Indeed, Pune has always that education aura but we all know what value education has in our country even today (barring getting a job) & Pune was used to be Pensioner’s Town (not even city). All people knew about Pune was, Chitale bakarwadi, 1pm-4pm shops are closed here & Pune 30, i.e., Sadashiv Peth resident’s attitude, that’s all! Suddenly something happened in 70’s-80’s & entered Bajaj-Telco & the train named Pune has started. Nitin bhau, I am just  a Nagpurian like you & trust me, most people barring a few (many of them are builders now in Pune) didn’t realized that this Maharashtra Express will become Vande-Materam Super-Fast train, in just four decades, this is what happened to Pune, & whose job was it to identify the speed of this train & make necessary changes to accommodate it as well to make other passenger trains to become express i.e. make other regions also grow! It was govt’s job but neither any govt nor opposition ever realized the potential as well speed of Pune’s growth & that’s why they have no role in what Pune has become today on growth front. Neither there is role of even builders or any segment of Pune’s trade or society as everybody did what it can do best i.e., keep getting benefitted from this train & this is why no segment especially the builders can be blamed for pollution or whatever bad state you feel Pune is in & that also I personally defer on!

Nitin bhau, indeed Pune’s pollution (air, river) & traffic jams is matter of concern but if you feel these are bad things about a city or a society then bhau, let’s go to Kolara, a village near our beloved tadoba forest as here you won’t find any pollution  as its forest but what you will find is pungent smell of human excreta & garbage on every approaching road of every village here, that too is pollution & whom we will blame here, as there are no builders here to blame! Everybody in Pune has contributed to its growth just by doing what he or she knows to do best, that’s how fate of cities is made unless the govt takes itself in driving seat & guides this fate which in Pune’s case didn’t happen. It was the govt (whichever it may be) which planned & announced New Mumbai & Noida developments & then the builders followed as in town planning (or in anywhere in real estate) builders just follows what govt decides about a region or the city, I think you missed that aspect of real estate! As town planning is not just planned roads, Development Control rules, water supply, or drainage system & public transport but it’s about environment & culture too, as well attitude of the people & this is where all other regions were left behind in comparison with Pune, is a big fact in the growth of the Pune region. And there do exists New Pune, just the fact is that is not officially declared by govt, as ask any die-hard Punekar (Pune 4 or Pune 30) he won’t accept Wakad or Pradhikarn or Fursungi or Ambegaon or Kharadi as Pune, yet a person buying home here thinks & accepts all these locations as Pune, this is what matters for the real estate! 

Coming to the technology part of construction industry & joining hands with institutes like IIT’s again you are at Bull’s Eye but “who will Bail the Cat’, is the question! Definitely, real estate segment needs to be united which is happening but then these things come with recognition & recognition comes only with respect which nobody pays to real estate is a fact! Nitin bhau, you are wonderful as an individual as first time a person of your stature from govt has addressed some association builders & touched the pinching issues though it’s not your industry but never any Urban development chief may it be of State or of Central has ever given time or attention towards Pune’s issues & that’s main cause of deterioration of this city! Real estate hasn’t been even acknowledged as an industry making taxes like GST at its worst here & policies are a mockery as for a ready possession home there is no GST but 12% GST on a home in making, what kind of policy is this! Same thing is about many essential ingredients & then, who has stopped IIT’s which are governed by the govt only, to start research wing focused on construction industry & materials at their end, real estate world will happily join hands, I am sure but it can’t be done vice versa, right? Though this is something real estate bosses must do about is I am writing from decade, lets hope your words will make the process a fast! As well a lot of savings can be done in the construction costs only if the rules & regulations governing the real estate (DC rules) are made in tune to accommodate the changes in the construction. Here one dept considers height of the building from habitable floor & another dept measures height of the building from road level & these types of jokes are keep happening making developers always in the dark about actual costing of the project till it gets completed! On one side you are saying to decongest Central Pune & on other hand UD dept is hell bend on increasing density around Metro track by making homes (Flats) smaller in the Central Part of the Pune which directly increases construction cost, just to make Metro in profit! Here, also you can put your weight on the concerned depts’ to take some brains in real estate in confidence for making policies which will help the masses only! One important aspect is, making Development Plans & implementing them in specific time, that itself will reduce construction cost like anything as millions of sq ft lands builders have to hold just for getting DP sanctioned, the interest on this investment is the main reason of increased rates of the homes!  And this list is bigger than Hanumanji ki Punchh but I am very happy & thankful you dared to open the dialogue on such sensitive issue!

Lastly, indeed the builders must take in consideration what you said about entering in hospitality (eateries) & tourism, as in Pune its very much important as these two things goes in hand with the growth as well margins in real estate are reducing & one can’t be dependent on them, especially with current policies of UD about Pune!

Nitin bhau, to conclude all I will share is, I too am also a diehard Vidarbhian like you but why people from our region or even from rural parts of Western Maharashtra are settling in Pune is not because they love Pune or this city offers them something out of the world, but because their respective native places can’t provide them very basic necessities of the life such as job, education, public health or even drinking water & this is no fault of any Punekar, definitely not of the builders in Pune but its failure of a system we call Govt (may it be of any political party’s), this is what we all has to accept if we want to give back Pune its glory & we are with you in that task, is I can assure!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying! 

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

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