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“Land and water are not really
separate things, but they are separate words, and we perceive through words.”
― David Rains
Wallace
“Illegality is covered by an
illusion of legality.”
― Steven Magee
“Cities across the world have prospered because of many factors but two things are always common, culture & water.” __ Me
Well, after a long time something frustrating as it is important to be exposed to frustration from time to time if you want to do business here & more if the business is related to land development of any kind & most if you are a builder! I can see frowning faces as a builder if you weigh the scale of respect & affection then the way our country is always in the last few when the scale is of happiness index, the same way builders usually stand at last two three in the list of business/ profession in our country! And anything you write which even slightly is in favour of real estate or builder then it’s a taboo or say wrong, yet I have no shame to tell my earning profession is real estate & I am a builder & I try my best to do the business by law book which pinches on every page & if I don’t share about it then wrong people will keep joining this profession & right people will keep leaving it, which I consider as my personal defeat, so this sharing, even its frustrating for me! Why I repeated the word frustrating is because the sharing is about rules, by-laws & policies related to real estate as well some aspects of real estate industry if we even consider it as an industry!
Till a few months or say a year back Pune supposedly was having only two problems, in the eyes of common citizen or society & govt, one is traffic & another is water. These two, like Federer & Nadal did in Tennis, keep changing the top problem slot term by term, as in summers water used to take the top slot & recently like Djokovic entered, air pollution made entry in the problem race & suddenly took the top slot on city problems front! Open any day, any page of local newspapers & you will find these three as the city's worst enemies & the only industry which is considered as culprit i.e. base of these three is real estate, is my reason for my sharing!
I am not defending real estate, as I know it won’t help but what I am trying to put forward is just pointing fingers at some industry the city won’t be able to get any breather from these problems but if we understand, accept the facts & then make rules of policies then only we will be able to win over them! For e.g., for now nearly five to six years all the plan passing authorities in the region i.e. PMRDA, PMC & PCMC (plz google for long forms) are taking an affidavit or understating (whatever) from the builders for any new development that the water will be provided by the builder if the local body / sanctioning authority fails to do so & poor builders (read as helpless) use to sign such document as or else they cant get sanction & like Jio there is no other competition to get the plans sanction from another agency, so like God’s Word, whatever PMC pr PCMC or PMRDA authorities says the builders has to accept it! Nobody dared to ask when it's the job of local body to make infrastructure & they are taking nearly Rs 300/ 400 per sft of every sft area built, in totality under various heads from the developer yet how can they say that, they won’t be able to provide the water to the project! Ok, if they can’t provide it then the builder is making arrangements for the water, is I can understand but why the builder is supposed to pay for that water which the residents are going to use because if it is so then where PMC is providing water there PMC also should not charge the residents for this water, right? But on the other side PMC is planning for supplying every drop by metered water supply scheme means for every drop of water consumed the user will have to pay to PMC & if it is so then why when builder is going to provide the water the same residents, are not to be charged but the builder should pay, is my question & every such policy related to real estate, is the object of my sharing!
As well though the plans of every project are being sanctioned by the local-body (read as govt) but no local body supplies even a drop of water for any construction 9read as legal construction) & doesn’t even cares how the millions of sft of homes are being built when no govt dept is supplying them any water! Well, the answer is, here also the builder has to make his own arrangement of water & complete the construction, maintaining quality & trust me, civil works need huge water to maintain right quality of concrete & all finishing jobs such as tiling, plastering etc! Approximately, one lakh sft of construction built up area takes two years of time to complete & it needs nearly 60 lakh liters of water (approx. average 10k litters per day for 600 days of work) as this includes drinking water also, for the labours at site! Joke is, no other industry is deprived by the govt on water & power front, rather govt gives them water & power at subsidized rate & on priority while for real estate industry govt refuse to give any water & power is available at maximum rate as rate per unit for construction electric supply is nearly Rs 16, which is highest & still the govt expects the builder to make affordable homes! Though electric power is altogether separate subject of sharing so about it sometimes later but at present lets focus on water & air & allied infra issues! Coming back to water, if the builder is supposed to provide water even after obtaining occupation then tomorrow the govt can say to make drainage lines, storm water lines also if the local bodies are unable to provide it & going a step ahead the builder can be asked to make proper approach roads also for the project, & if there is no local public transport available then make compulsory to the builder to provide rickshaw or bus service or pay its fair to the residents or pay the residents their petrol bills also till the local body is unable to provide public transport, right? (Sorry, it's sarcasm or else govt will really implement it)! My point is, if the builder is supposed to be responsible for the infrastructure outside of his project, then what is role (read as job) of local body such as PMC/ PCMC as well govt itself & why they are also not part of RERA as service provider (read as beneficiary) because they also make money from every sft of area being sold in form of development charges & stamp duty! At the same time, what steps we are taking for rainwater conservation in completed projects & who is monitoring it as a drop saved is drop earned, is simple logic for water conservation!
If this is case for water supply then as I mentioned the third entrant in problem rankings i.e. air pollution as the builders are made to provide Air Sensor on site as their cost & what he should do with is after the project is complete, donate it ?/ I understand it's just Rs one lakh thing & most will say what’s big deal, with a project of few crores what’s value of one lakh, well point is, why the builder only & why not any other industry is forced to do so? Why not on all PMT buses who probably emit maximum smoke & then what about the govt itself whose road digging all along the year for every known purpose generates maximum dust where are air sensors on all such sites & what action is being taken on it! And on all such backgrounds when you get to read news of govt regularising all illegal construction of govt lands from the point of humanity for the poor people (is it?) occupying such illegal homes the you really feel pain as what efforts one has to go to build one legal home what about humanity for all such fools (sorry that’s the only word come to my mind for anybody doing legal business) as after paying (literally) for sins of others & pinching my own pocket I build something & a guy who hasn’t applied for any permission leave apart paying for water to these occupants or fixing any air sensor, his homes are legalized without any sanction on the ground of humanity, wow, just wow!
Guys, I repeat, keeping all sympathy for the people who can’t afford a legal home, illegal constructions on private or govt land is a serious crime, worse than burglary(daroda) or murder, yet we are taking it very lightly! As first, these homes add burden on civic infrastructure without paying anything & we, the legal path-takers has to pay for them & at the same time they are competition for a legal home which is costlier as it’s been built by following every law & right practice, & this is unfair competition making only one part ending up as a loser, i.e. the builder (legal one), is my subject of sharing!
High time, there has to be committee of experts (Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapane) for all such policies related to revenue & infrastructure for every local body who has some thinkers on it & then make the policies which will benefit not to just some dept or body or business but the entire city, as there lies the solution for affordable homes for every segment! This is month of April & I was reading figures of revenue generated by all depths of govt (including PMC, PCMC) & most of them were related to real estate i.e. building permission, stamp duty on agreements of homes & property tax & such & do mind all of these is from legal homes only & courtesy real estate (read as builders)! Just think, if one day this all stops as even you get an ATM machine in inheritance but unless you supply the cash to that ATM it can generate money on its own but neglecting this fact if you keep withdrawing from that ATM eventually it will go dry one day & to me it seems the Mai Baap Govt considers real estate as ATM machine which generates its own cash & if that is so then one day we all know the entire city will go dry, adios with this warning!
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Sanjay Deshpande
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/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
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