National.
Rahul Gandhi is sure full of zeal and leaving no chance to attack the NDA government, or ‘Modi government’ as he calls it, on any front. Firing yet another salvo at Narendra Modi’s Government, the Congress vice-president today claimed it had diluted provisions of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill making the legislation “pro-builders from being pro-buyers”. After meeting several NCR flat buyers today, the Congress vice-president, who has been attacking the Centre over land bill issue and the plight of farmers, said he had learnt that it was not just farmers and tribals, but also the middle-class people that are “suppressed” on matters related to land. Assuring home buyers that he would stand by them, Gandhi said it was due to lack of transparency, the buyers were left in a quandary. “They are told that you will get the flat on a particular day but for years they don’t get the flat. They are told the super duper area of the flat would be so much but what is delivered is different,” he said.
Rahul accused the government of trying to destroy the Bill, which the Congress-led UPA had brought to regulate the real-estate sector.
“Main dilution is that there was clear transparency. The carpet area that you sign is what would be given. They have diluted and from pro-buyer, made it pro-builder,” he said.
Attacking the government, he said, “What it is doing against farmers and tribals, it is also doing against the middle class. I have assured them that the way I stand with farmers and tribals I stand with them also,” he told members of the media.
Saloni Paroothi, one of the home buyers who had met Gandhi, said she had booked a flat in Noida but the possession was now delayed by several years. Explaining her problem, Paroothi said she not only had to ensure payment of EMI, but also the rent of the house where she was living. “The builder is neither paying any penalty, nor is he listening to us,” she said. Other people who also had booked flats said that they were under tremendous pressure as they had put in their hard earned money in projects which were delayed for several years.
Former Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation minister and Congress leader Ajay Maken also attacked the BJP-led NDA government saying it had made “118 amendments” to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill which had been brought by the earlier government. He said the intention of the Bill was to protect and support the buyers but the government had overturned it entirely through these amendments.
Not knowing how to handle the attack the BJP leaders again brought up Rahul Gandhi’s “long leave from India when Parliament was on”. Ravi Prasad, Minister said that Rahul should remember that where ever he had canvassed during the elections, Congress had lost.
The NDA Ministers probably need to be reminded that elections are long over and just personal attacks on the ‘Gandhi family’ are not going to carry them far when it is matter of genuine issues troubling Indian citizens.
