Pune; Kal, Aaj aaur Kal !!

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” …  Jane Jacobs

This quote I have used many times but then some phrases or say sentences or words we can use many times yet they don’t lose the charm or the wisdom they provide, like we say “Don’t worry, sub thik ho jayega”, same is with above sentence, especially when the topic is about the city! And, the writer is like my mentor (nowadays, we can’t even dare to use some name even for example as we don't know whose sentiments will get hurt by use of that name). Ok, when my friend and fellow builder, (well, builders also can be friends with each other’s) Mr Sunil Kotwal called/wrote me about Credai Maharashtra Magazine & the topic he wanted to cover is about Pune region’s growth (or development) & can I write about it, few memories floated in-front of my eyes! First of them was, image of boy coming from Amravati (Vidarbha) to this city nearly 37 years back came to my mind, it was Summer & the first letter I wrote to my mother was, aai, hya gawala unhalach nahi” i.e., “Mom, there is no summer in this city” & then last month (April 23) when I stepped in flight to Pune from Nagpur, air hostess announced temperature of Nagpur as 39 degrees & when I landed in Pune, the airhostess announced, outside temperature 41 degrees! Well, I can see frowning faces of my colleagues & fellow builders as it’s not very cheering start for describing growth or development about the city but I take this as an opportunity to share (to warn) my views about what we should call as a growth & not just swelling, so please bear with it! And then some temperature scale isn’t going to stop mad-rush of all age group’s population towards Pune, is also a fact, so don’t worry, lol!

Ok, here is another floating memory about Pune, I travel a lot in Central Indian Forests & some four years back I went to Kanha Forest where a family-owned resort I usually stay. The owner's family came to meet me one evening knowing I am from Nagpur & now settled in Pune & have some good business there (lol), and they wanted to know about arrangements of their kids for education in Pune. I asked what college they wanted to get admission in, to which the lady replied, not college, they are in 8^th & 9^th std respectively! And here is one more memory, then we will turn to present tense as all these memories do matter & are very much related to the subject of sharing, so please forgive my memory show, is a request! As a speaker (again lol) on Credai forum, I have gone to a nearby district place which is hardly one & half hour drive from Pune. Post lecture on a casual discussion, a businessman was complaining, “aho, tumachya Punyachya craze payi, ithalya mulana laganala muli mialt nanhit bagha, sagalya mulina punyatalach nawara pahije”. Well, difficult to translate, yet what he was telling the grooms in that town are not getting brides as all the marriage aspiring girls wanted a groom from Pune only, such is the craze of Pune! Now, last memory, one of my engg friends is at a very high position in an MNC which has units at Pune & in rural of State, somewhere 250 km away from Pune. He said, even with a double salary offer the engineers are not ready to go to his rural unit which is away from Pune & the same candidate is ready to work in Pune at half salary!

Guys, if you are bored with memories, I just wanted to tell you , this is growth, development, success of Pune, as 35 years back when I wanted to come in Pune for my engg studies, my parents were warned by people, as don’t sent you only son (I got a sister but you know emotions about son in our society) so far, why can’t you get him admission in nearby college & see the recent memories or incidences, this is what Pune has achieved in last three decades, base of which was in making, well before what it has reached today. Every time when someone asks me what is backbone or USP or Strong Point of Pune, my answer is, the social life & culture this city offers to its residence, that is why Pune is dear to every visitor especially North & Central Indian residents as with due respect, this is what they miss (mainly women) in their respective region! If you think I am insulting those parts of our country, well, first, I am myself from that region & second ask any lady from Central/ North India, who now stays in Pune about her experiences with society at large at both places & then blame me for my comment! Once you come to this city for any reason, may it be work, travel, education, then you feel like staying here more, & the reason is the lifestyle this city offers to you on the platter! 

I presume at Credai CRM, we are featuring every City/ Place in the State so as people should know good as well bad about the place & more important our fellow members must understand strong & weak points of the city, they are doing business in so we can strengthen the weak points & make our strong points stronger by giving right attention to them, that’s why I am elaborating these aspects! As real estate deals with local place & its roots, as here is where people will come & settle with their families, it's not just a home with good specifications or a premium work space we build is enough to make the real estate industry grow but something more than that is needed or else they will go to some other place, this is what has happened all around the world & no city or town is exception for this law of growth, not even Pune!

No wonder, with the culture & social life this region has, for many rural as well underdeveloped region citizens, Pune is land of opportunity in the same way USA is for the entire world & migration is boon as well curse for Pune (as well for other real estate centres too). As the city bosses (read as UD, PMC, PCMC etc) never imagined the speed with which it is growing (or say has grown), toppling every infrastructure front of which water & traffic & garbage are front runners! If the city provides education as well as jobs to millions of humans, then these millions of humans need water, drainage, roads, transport, public health facilities & yes space of their own, in their budget too! As well, these millions are going to generate garbage from their lifestyle & blow smoke via their private vehicles, & we need to make them aware about their responsibilities towards the city, which is a must do thing for every that person or system which thinks about a better future of this city!  Just a decade back water storage was never a problem in Pune region but now we are facing the heat of water cuts & future is tough, as sources of water are restricted but the population is ever increasing; so we must work on solutions from today only! Same is with traffic, as more roads means more vehicles & the traffic congestion problem will keep increasing in multiplying-way unless we make our public transport strong & in time! And yes, the green cover as well as public places, which are a must for any human settlement to prosper over a long period, we must not forget this aspect of the city!

Last & most important aspect which Credai must think on is connectivity to other places as try getting tickets for next day’s train to any destination from Pune & see what reply you get, train is full, is the outcome! Same story with air-port & private bus service is unsafe, so this is something Credai Pune must work on by chasing authorities in the right direction, at least we must try!  Because we (read as Credai Pune & other centres too), must contribute in every possible social issue of the respective city as an individual as well as an association, so that the society will feel that we are not just money-making machines but we care for the culture of the city also & adds to it by our contributions. The city which has become a region now, is no longer a town or pensioner’s city or cyclist’s city which it was popular for & we must try to regain that charm as this is where our future belongs. Pune has got everything to become (or it is already) an ideal region for settlement, our duty is to see that we also give back to the region, instead just taking benefits from it!

Urbanization is a boon only if its handled (read as controlled) in right way & no one else but we ourselves can decide our right way, is what I will like to share before I conclude. Just because there is three times FSI/TOD/Premium you can build, but is it a must thing that you should build all of that sq fts! High time to ask yourself (all you so called health-conscious guys), just because some dinner is free, do you keep hogging till your stomach explodes; no, is the answer, right? Then, why we must cover every sq. inch of the plot with concrete & use that last drop of FSI, as if just by building some sq fts less, is going to benefit the city at large, let’s do it! Do mind, the Govt is happy feeding us FSI, just the way an Halwai is happy selling his sweets, but in the end its our body which will collapse due to diabetes & over weight & not of the halwai's; mind it Punekars (not just builders), is all I will share to conclude for the better & healthy future of this wonderful city which is Pune region now!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

UKWS & Wildlife Samrudhhi Mahamarg!

 

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“What is a fish without a river? What is a bird without a tree to nest in? What is an Endangered Species Act without any enforcement mechanism to ensure their habitat is protected? It is nothing!” ... - Jay Inslee

Jay Robert Inslee is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013 & what he said about habitat in such few words (with analogy) is what made me use them & not just because he was Guv of some State of USA. Rather I always wonder with such vision & clarity of political minds yet why USA itself is major destructor of nature (wildlife) & why the country doesn’t help (financially as well by providing infra) to other countries such as India for our wildlife conservation instead helps other countries (do I need to mention names) only weapons!! Anyways, that's a different aspect of sharing but for this one which is about one of the most unique locations for wildlife (tigers mainly) of not just our State but for entire central Indian forests, I felt the quote most apt! For those who might not have guessed (not many for sure), it’s about Umred named town, which is mainly known for UKWS i.e., umred karhandala wildlife sanctuary & not just its different habitat but for very strategic (rather unique) location. By now many wildlifers know the term “Corridor” which is used for the patch of lands which connects actual forests & through which wild animals migrate from one place to another. Now, those who don't know much about wild life (read as doesn’t care), they will ask, why the wild animals migrate in the first place? Well, the answer is, the same reason for which we humans migrate from one place to another i.e., better living! Only difference is, unlike we the humans, the wild animals does not have privilege to choose the option of travelling like air travel, car or railway & they don’t have airports, railway tracks & definitely not Samruddhi Mahamarg which can fast & safely take them to their new home or destination, so they have to use their feet & cover the distance! This is not an easy task as, no longer their path of foot travel is just forest where they can travel without disturbing humans (read as without themselves getting disturbed) as imagine a tiger walking towards some forest on a town’s road or from the backyard of your home, what will be your reaction! So, these animals must choose a path where they can get privacy as well as food & water on the way & this is where Umred’s strategic location comes in the picture on wildlife map!

Surrounded by all the major forests in Central India, such as tadoba, pench, melghat, nagzira, bor & many unprotected forests, UKWS is hub for wild animals traveling within these forests for the better living. It is very much centrally located, has ample water in the form of many lakes which are perennial & is surrounded by forest cover on most of its surrounding which is essential for wild animals for maintaining their privacy! No wonder tigers from many forests & sanctuaries have visited UKWS frequently, mainly from Tadoba which is like breeding centre of the yellow black stripes & when one of the tigers gets driven away in the territory fight, UKWS surroundings is the safest gateway for such out-casted tigers for a while & even for permanent purpose also *; here, * star is for terms & conditions applicable the way it is for H1B is required for residence in USA! If you are confused, or thinking it is a prank then it’s not, what terms & conditions means is, the existing wildlife (read as tigers) in UKWS, if they allow the new tigers to settle then only its possible or else the new traveling tiger can start its journey ahead to any of neighbouring forests for permanent residence! Though the location was unique & wild animals knew it since long yet to make humans know (read as admire) UKWS’s importance it took the magic of Fairy which bought UKWS on wildlife map with bang, some three years back. Fairy is the name of a tigress which gave birth to five cubs & raised them & the male tiger also supported & this became a delight of every wildlife photographer as the family of seven tigers used to pose for the camera together, something which doesn’t happen in the wilderness often! This is how UKWS started getting attention & tourists too at its forest but what it needs is much more than just tourists & attention, is my subject of sharing!

Because today it’s just a Sanctuary, making funding always a problem for providing infrastructure which includes increasing numbers of forest guards to making good roads inside parks as well proper support to forest staff for commodities such as shoes to clothing & rest also! At the same time the lands around UKWS are rich with minerals & mining is main industry here making Umred a very fast-growing town in Nagpur region which means interruption in the corridors of wild animals by developments such as plotting, highways, digging for mines & many such, this needs to be controlled (I have used the term stopped)! As people here need jobs & these minerals can make many human lives comfortable but not at the cost of wildlife, this is what I wanted to share! Right now, things can be balanced but not for long time before it’s too late, the way we have planned & built Samruddhi Highway for safe & fast travels, high time Mr Nitin Bhau Gadkari (who is from Nagpur only) to build many such Wildlife Samruddhi Highways connecting places like UKWS to all the neighbouring forests! Please think over the idea & you can definitely do it (read as you must) as forest dept neither has funds nor have power to do anything for the wildlife, outside of their sanctuaries or parks & no other political leaders feel the need for such a cause!

The major threat to UKWS wildlife’s balance is, one the protected forest area is small & second, geographical constraints on expansion as this forest doesn’t have buffer, there are urban settlements or dam water bodies on all the sides except some patches of forests which are the corridors & the migrating male tigers are causing disturbance to exiting tigers here. The present cubs which are born from Surya, dominant male is under threat from the male tigers coming from different forests, thus the female tigers are also disturbed. This has happened in tadoba also toppling the life cycle of newborn tigers & which is bad for the future of wildlife in any forest. Unless we take fast actions & make space as well corridors for the tigers in transit UKWS wildlife may possess great threat. And mostly in such cases the tigresses with little cubs move away the cubs in other areas away from male tigers causing man-animal conflict or the cubs getting exposed from human threats such as electric fencing or falling in some open well, the end-result is, loss of a tiger life! And all these things forest dept alone can't do on its own, a strong support from powerful political leaders will definitely help the cause!

Barring such a thing UKWS is a bliss to be in, though the guides needed to be better trained & more roads must be opened so as sighting of wildlife can be better. I wonder what's the forest dept’s problem with not opening or making new routes as well poor maintenance of forest roads, as these will make more forest under vigilance of tourists well for forest staff too! As most of the forest dept’s senior staff if on one side accept the importance of wildlife tourism in wildlife conservation then on the other side it hardy does in positive action on the field, which includes things such as opening more roads, rest rooms at all the forest chowkis for tourists, training of guides as well guards, making them know other forests of the State & of the country & the list is on! Dear Nitin Gadkari Sir & forest dept, we are blessed with such a wonderful treasure like UKWs, weather to make addition in it for our next generations or to waste it, choice is solely ours & time is very less, adios with this note (you may read it as threat)!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

Satpura, Sheer Wilderness!

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“A house you can rebuild; a bridge you can restring; a washed-out road you can fill in. But there is nothing you can do about a tree but mourn.” …  Louise Dickinson Rich

Louise Dickinson Rich was a writer known for fiction and non-fiction works about the New England region of the United States, particularly Massachusetts and Maine. And no wonder as I had been to those parts of USA & even today its thickly wooded & that’s why I can understand the love & affection of Louise towards the forests which she has warned us through her above words! And when the subject of sharing is about a forest where I started knowing about wilderness & is a place which is like ocean of greens (thankfully still it is) then it’s Loise’s above word which fits perfectly for the start. I am refereeing to my recent trip to Satpura Tiger Project in MP & about which not many people know much, even the die-hard wild lifers also visit less frequently this place & reason is its vastness! And the logic is, the forest spread over nearly 2200 sq kms, & this is just tiger park’s area, all around this park also there is forest & this forest contains hills, mountains, ridges, valleys, gorge, water bodies, rivers, ponds, lakes & densely wooded patches making it near impossible to sight a tiger & unfortunately (or fortunately) tiger sighting is the main focus of wild lifer’s also (yet they call themselves wild lifers is another joke) & this is why Satpura is like an island in ocean but island of wilderness!

Well, you may think I am over-exaggerating because whenever forest of our country is subject of discussion then major names floated around are Kanha, Ranthambore, Corbet, Bandhawgarh & yes recently Tadoba, that’s all! Sorry folks, I am not disrespecting hundreds rather thousands of the forests or habitats & its occupants but open any group of wild life on FB & see the images & their locations! MAin reason is, these places are accessible & most chances of sighting a tiger is here & another aspect is we (read as even the govt) never promotes wildlife or say forests but a tiger or some species such as Cheetahs or Barasingha or Rhino but never a place & that’s the reason places like Satpura doesn’t gets due credit for what they possess!  But then if a fool doesn’t care or values for a diamond that isn’t the fault of the diamond but of the fool, is what I said to our guide Nikesh who said to me on first safari, Sir, humare yaha tiger jaldi dikhta nahi, isliye tourist loag jada aate nahi par sir humara jungle bahot khubsurat hai”! That last line, “humara jungle bahot khubsurat hai”, was the most important & heart touching sentence, “humara jungle” i.e. “Our Forest”, that is what made my day & then a boy who has started his journey in the wilderness in Satpura range, doesn’t needed to told him about the beauty of the forest here, is what I told to Nikesh! I have been to Melghat many times in my younger age but its other side i.e., Maharashtra side of these mountain ranges, here in MP we know it as Satpura Project Tiger which in Maharashtra is known as Melghat Tiger reserve & is known to most of the Mumbai-Punekars for its malnutrition induced deaths than for the forests, an unfortunate fact!

Even the Melghat Project Tiger, which has got entrance from Maharashtra side too has lesser tiger sightings as the terrain is same & so is its expand yet with due respect to lesser urbanization (and lesser human population too) Melghat’s MP brother i.e., Satpura Tiger Project’s forests is a lot more virgin & serene too! It’s in Baitul & Narmada Puram (earlier Hoshangabad) districts, some 270 km drive from Nagpur which in my younger days was nightmare but today it’s a four laned highway & you can cover the distance in four hours from Nagpur, first pleasant surprise for me, that was! For years the road from Amravati which cuts across Melghat & heads to Baitul was my dream journey as it passes through entire Melghat forests but never I had privilege of travelling till Baitul & enter in Satpura Forests but this time my wish lish got ticked & so got one more wish list item ticked, a leopard in the evening dusk light walking on road! Satpura range of mountains is probably the oldest in Central India & the forest here is endless as you start from Nagpur & cross the smoke blowing huge chimneys of Koradi thermal Power station & then the forest starts which is with you till you reach in the core of Satapura & sure beyond that! If this is a boon on one side as no industry, urbanization, IT, Airports, nothings are here in this cast belt but that’s what makes the humans here difficult to survive & I think that is the biggest challenge while conservation of such forests like Satpura! Incidentally, this year’s summer only, the Satpura Project Tiger got second ranking all over India for best managed tiger project, at the hands of Hon Prime Minister & may be its because of the difficulties the place has to manage due to its location & expand!

Satpura forests has two main gates, Churna & Madai & the distance between two gates I nearly 100km, so you can imagine the spread of the forest of Satpura! There have been some villages within the buffer & core which has been relocated recently & the restoration of these lands was in progress. It’s very interesting process as the villages consisted some houses made of bricks+ mud, a school building, as well farmlands & a small temple of Bajrangbali (a must feature of every village in Central India). Now the forest dept has demolished all the structures except the temples. The land for the farming will make meadows i.e., grass lands which will be helpful in increasing prey base & all these will make a wonderful habitat as well corridor. Already the abandoned village sites have seen lots of wildlife movements as per the guides &is a good sign. This is major task in-front of all the forest dept’s, as to make space for increased numbers of wild animals & for this herculean task we must appreciate the efforts especially places as remote as Satpura!

This remoteness not only makes work of forest dept hard but even the private service providers too which are most essential for tourism at such places. At Churna, I met my long-time young friend Chinmay Deshpande, who has chosen wild life as his career & is presently CEO of Bori Resort at Churna gate. His place has provided jobs for nearly fifty plus local youngsters & their skill development is a tough job even tougher than to locate a tiger in Satpura! But we need such places & the people, as then only the locals can get the jobs & their knowledge as well skills can be utilized in positive way for conservation of the forests. As one may think what big deal in relocating these villagers, pay them, give them money as well alternate place to settle, what’s the reason for not to leave some remote barren land in exchange of a land at location with infrastructure, right? But then, same equation you try in relocating slums in cities like Pune or Mumbai, why it’s not successful here also? The simple answer is, human tendency is to resist any change & where your generations have stayed for hundreds of years its not so easy to move from there. Instead, if we can make them survive along with their forests & get them job in near by establishments, its always the win-win solution.

One thing, which Satpura needs is training of guides, mainly about communication skills as well using their knowledge of forests in the benefit of tourist. In forests like Satpura, you can feel presence of the tiger all the time but sighting is hard & at such times the tourists may get frustrated because of no tiger sighting but at such times the guide’s role is vital to make the tourists know or enjoy sheer magic of beauty of the forest by keeping them busy with stories as well information about the forests! This is something which forest dept at Satpura must work on with the help of NGO’s as we’ll professional firms & for that govt has to spend as its investment actually!  Lastly, some interesting stories always makes part of the forests & Satpura is also not exception for the rule, rather it has got many hidden stories under its green cover. I always ask questions about every unusual activity in the forest as usually the answers unveil wonderful forest stories, is my experience. One such I came across was about story of Baradeo (Twelve Gods). On a turn in the core, I saw a small temple & an old tribe man putting a stone on that temple. This was one of the Bara Deos’ i.e., long back twelve brothers used to protect the forests & villagers around this region which became legends & in their memory twelve such small temples were built across the Satpura forests. If some villager / tribe wants seeks something then he or she has to visit all these twelve temples & put a small stone on top of them then his wish will get fulfilled by the Baradeo is a belief which is still followed around & what I saw was just one example of that belief! Speaking about stories, each forest trip of mine creates some new stories too, here is story of this trip…

That One Glance !!
Every time I visit the forests there is a hidden Wishlist, some of which has remained unticked for more than decades! One such was watching (read as feeling) a leopard walking on the road ahead, from behind & at one moment, it taking a pause to look back in my eyes...The more I wander in forests the more I realize this wish isn't easy to tick as leopard is a shy animal & if there is a tiger around then it will never come in open at ease yet I knew this also, the forests never disappoints you, it's all about your patience, persistence , using your knowledge along with efforts & huge luck to be at right time in rigid place! All of these came together in recent Satpura Trip @ Churna gate. As I said, in Satpura expand of forest is huge & a tiger can have territory even of 100 sq. kilometres, making leopards can have ample space of their own & the habitat is just perfect for them. On a summer eve with sun travelling fast towards horizon, at the start of the safari itself I have said to our guide, "boss, sawere tiger ka movement jis area me hua hai, usase alag area me chalate hai, leopard ka chance lete hai". So, we were moving around terrain which is favourable for leopard & hoping that either we can get it while going to some water body or coming back from it & as the tiger surely was not in this area, there was fair chance, now it’s only about some luck as most of the gypsies have retreated from this area. As well we needed keen eyes of the guide to spot leopard on the background of yellow grey summer habitats of Melghat & we had one in the form of Nikesh, a local young guide who suddenly shouted, "sir, leopard hai zadi me"! Now all we had to do is, take our gipsy away slowly & let it come on road which we did & the young leopardess came on road walking away from us. The dusty road, the fading sunlight & the rosettes (prints on leopards’ skin), my heart was beating fast as one wish-list was ticked & "Man me dusra laddo futa", will she look back as any attempt to reduce distance or overtake her will drove her away in the forests, so we just kept the distance & followed her! She was very much aware of our presence but as there was total privacy apart from our vehicle she was walking in her own peace & there was a tikkat ahead (T Junction) so she has to decide which way to go & at that moment, like she was asking to us where I should go, she paused & look back, strait in my eyes! With a heart rate which would have made me admitted immediately if any doctor would have been there, I got one shot of those piercing eyes, as I knew it will be one glance only & I clicked! After that I kept camera aside & just kept admiring her walk & the heart beats also resumed normal & she just slid in the forest along the road! The whole drama must have lasted for some ten minutes but for me entire time felt like stopped for ever! & so did that image of her looking at me, like she was teasingly smiling, saying, 'Ho gai aapki wish puri"! 

And I left Satpura, with the image of that leopardess looking at me carved on my mind forever, with a promise to her, “Fir Milenge, Jaldi Hi”!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

RERA's Journey Future of Real Estate!

 

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“Real estate is an imperishable asset, ever increasing in value. It is the most solid security that human ingenuity has devised. It is the basis of all security and about the only indestructible security.” … Russell Sage.

 Sage (August 4, 1816 – July 22, 1906), was a financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York, United States. And the USA is the Mother of Real Estate Business (even with such big land availability), & no wonder personalities like Sage have understood the importance of real estate long back! Unfortunately, in our country, real estate may have been dear to most people for the money it generates yet as an industry it never gets the respect it deserves, which is a bitter fact for the entire industry! And this was once again proved when, The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act 2016, came into force in 2017, means, the Act is nearly five years old now. Though five years is a very less time & the Act is young, especially considering the age-old nature of real estate which has been here not just for a few decades but for centuries, the forms may be different, the RERA Act has been talk of the town (country) since it has been in force! As per this Act, every State in India must have its own RERA authority, so in our State its MahaRERA i.e., Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority. Frankly, I am not a lawyer or even a builder in traditional way (most will understand, what I meant by builder in traditional way) yet I am one & real estate is my business so I am connected to RERA & for mine as well my fellow builders & the end users i.e. our customers I thought taking this subject for sharing as its five years since the Act has come in the force & a lot has been changed & more than that a lot has been spoken! Any Law, even criminal (we know MOCA, TADA, MPID) is effective only when its practical as well backed up by proper enforcement system for implementation of that act & that is why MahaRERA’s importance is very much when its real estate!  The first thing I noticed is how conveniently we made short form as RERA act (from common public & even builders view) as if you read the full name of act it as Regulation & Development also in it but neither in making short form of the act not in formation of the RERA authorities, development word has been omitted, coincidence or reputation of the builders, I will like to draw attention of all the concerned parties to this small fact which many will say what big deal & even Shakespeare has said what’s in name, but in a country where even your surname is important as it tells about your caste & religion & from that the treatment you get changes, this small fact about deleting term Development from short form of RERA does matters a lot! Because it shows our attitude towards the entire real estate industry which common man (so does the govt) thinks is guilty or culprit, it’s only the Regulation part has kept in making short form, so every time RERA is mention all you think is about Regulation but we forget that there is Development too, was focus of the Act!

This is my object of sharing, to make people (builders as well home buyers) understand, why RERA came in existence & what it is today (after five years) & what it should be in future, from not just builder’s perspective (which no one wants actually) but from the society’s perspective. Before I start my sharing, I repeat, neither I am a lawyer nor I am some expert in policies related to real estate, especially legal ones such as society or apartment by-laws etc, yet I felt like taking the RERA aspect for sharing as I am in the business of real estate. More than that, recently I came across someone who is authority (read as The Authority) on RERA & he shared very important aspect (an eye-opener) with me , which says, if a developer fails to deliver something which he has committed & later says that it wasn’t in his control to foresee such things & the commitment he has made to the flat buyer gets failed, then its solely the builder’s fault as he can’t escape RERA proceedings under the shield saying things went beyond his control! RERA understands only the builder & his commitments & is keen to protect the clients & if a builder doesn't want to get under RERA scanner (read as punished) then he should be careful before he commits anything to his clients before they enter into the agreement! And the agreement also is no longer under the control of the builder as RERA has made a standard form of agreement with basic do’s & don’ts conditions & the builder must follow that format, all he (or she) can change is, details about the land as well project respectively! Till now the flat sale agreement was a one-way thing (sorry fellow builders, a fact) i.e.  builder used to put every possible escape route from his commitments & the flat purchaser had no say about it, which was, is (will be) RERA’s prime focus. Because the biggest complaints regarding developers from their clients was (and is) failure in fulfilling commitments made by the builder to them & getting away under the shield of the one-way clauses in the agreement! I am sorry if I have offended to my fellow builders buts this is what public thinks about our industry & that’s why, ours is the only industry for which a separate Act at Nation level has to be made & authority like RERA is created, we like it or not doesn’t matter as RERA is in very much existence, legally is a fact!

Here one more aspect was there, it's about the customer reading the clauses in the agreement, even today hardly ten percent of clients read the flat sale agreement in detail (some read it in too much detail, that's a different story) & one percent of them take professional legal assistance in doing that. And these very same people even while buying groceries or vegetables check the goods a hundred times, that’s the irony of real estate as it's because of such an attitude only the ill elements in real estate have grown like cancer. Though the authorities says that its monopoly of the builder which made clients to surrender on such fronts like agreement draft but this is where I differ (with due respect to RERA bosses) as nobody can force a product on his client, it is the greed of the clients also which made builder dare to draft one-way agreement is equally true. As even today thousands of clients book the flats in the illegal buildings which don’t have a legal sanction, leave apart a RERA registration; so, my question is what RERA is going to do against such clients? Because if an illegal building is the outcome of a corrupt system (read as govt) & bad builders then it's equally the outcome of the greed of the buyers to save money which would have been more if they had gone to a legal builder, right? Here again the system (read as society, govt, judicially) will say it’s because of financial constraints a person has to surrender to buy his home in an illegal building & I do sympathize with all such flat buyers but what they are doing is not right as the price has to be paid to entire real estate which is doing business by following all the norms, will RERA throw light on what’s being done about the biggest threat to real estate industry i.e., illegal homes?  Because just like the most popular Bollywood Cinema script, “aadmi bura nahi hota, wakt bura hota hai” & justifying the crime then the same can be said about the builders also! And the very same Bollywood teaches us this philosophy too, “Jurm jkaranewalese jada gunhagar jurm sahanewala hota hai”, making flat buyers more guilty than the defaulting builders in such illegal projects, isn’t it? And why just being ignorant attitude towards sale agreement drafts, I will show you thousands of cases where flat buyers have bought a home with their life time’s money with some builder about whom they don’t know anything, just because he is giving them a home at a location where they want & in their budget, even redevelopments are not expectation to this greed of land-owners/flat holders, so, is it just builder’s fault?

As on one side RERA expects transparency as well committed deals by the builders & is ready to axe any head in case of failure on these fronts but on the other side the “Mai Bapp” govt is hell bend to legalize all the illegal homes (read as projects) under humanity, what is RERA’s stand on this entire legalizing illegal homes all over the State, isn’t that will be injustice to all the builders who are trying their best to follow all the RERA norms just because they want to make some money by following law! I am not against RERA as what it is asking is a normal fair deal & which should be followed by every business-man, what I am asking is, every coin has two sides & an edge too, so what about other side & the edge? As, by now why RERA hasn’t entered in the petitions against illegal homes & asking Hon Court to demolish all such buildings as well making Govt to pay to the flat holders in such buildings for their money locked-up & ask them to book with a regular RERA registered project their home with that money, isn’t this also expectation from a law-abiding builder from RERA authorities?

And then comes the second aspect of REAR formation i.e., Regulation & Development; can someone guide what Development term was included in the name of RERA act along with regulation? What I feel (I am not saying I think) is, Development means any Development such as plot, flats, offices, IT parks etc, & it was the job of the authority to see that this development also should happen along with regulation! If RERA is meant to protect the interests of the flat buyers, then please do mind when a deal is struck, then both parties are in one boat, and especially the real estate industry named boat which is controlled by many captions making the builder helpless at times! I repeat, I am neither sympathizing with the builders nor asking RERA to make rules related to Urban Development or Revenue or Development Plans, what I am saying is RERA authorities must take these aspects & builder’s helplessness on these fronts, just as a natural justice! I agree, the builder must consider all such things about NOC’s & Sanctions before launching any project & keep his flat holders updated as well informed yet when an under-construction project gets stop work due to some weird norm of some govt authority, it’s the respective builder who has to face more losses than the flat holders, please consider this fact, is what my appeal to Hon RERA bosses!  At the same time, it’s a young law & is still evolving, what I feel is a dialogue (with open mind) is important on regular basis to refine the law as well its implementation as already real estate (those who do fair business) has to face maximum number or authorities & regulations, & in such situation we don’t want o RERA to be one more pinching  nail in the shoe but should act like a sole which will protect us from the other existing (and new )nails & I thinks that’s a fair expectation considering the Development part of the act!

Lastly, about giving clarity to the clients (read as confusion) about how a financially stuck project can be completed with the help of RERA, as that’s the worst thing which can happen to any real estate project. Agreed, RERA is supposed to keep a tap on financials of the project, yet with too much supply in the market (at some places) demand can get reduced & a project can go in loss. Especially in real estate where may private as well co-operative financers (read as loan sharks) are ready for the needy builder (read as kill), how RERA is going to assure that a financially loss-making project can be through when only some percent of the units have been booked as there have been cases where clients are waiting for the possession, builder is absconding & possession date is in hanging! Here, a word of advice (well at age fifty plus I can say that) to the home buyers, just because RERA is there that doesn’t mean it will take care of everything & it’s an act/ authority to monitor real estate; do mind, RERA is not your insurance policy for the deal you are entering in with any builder, & you only have to be careful while you choose with whom you book your home! For the builders all I will share (can’t dare to advise builders) some basics (which I also try to follow at my end), RERA or no RERA, it’s what your clients thinks about you is what decides fate of your business & for that, it’s always better to say “No’ & deliver than saying ‘Yes’ & failing to deliver, adios with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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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www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/