Real estate developers body CREDAI has decided to close all its construction and administrative operations today as a mark of respect and solidarity to MCHI Thane President Suraj Parmar who allegedly committed suicide.
On October 7, Parmar, CMD of the Cosmos Group, “shot himself dead” as he was fed up of alleged harassment from various government departments and their repeated demands for bribes, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) said in a statement.
“The fight against a corrupt and inefficient government system has led to the loss of our fellow developer. As a mark of respect and solidarity, all our member developers will protest with closure of offices, sites office, registration and all construction work on Tuesday,” it said.
CREDAI also said developers have to take around 54-60 approvals and permissions before starting a project and each approval necessitates dealing with a number of government authorities.
“This entire process takes about 2-3 years resulting in the projects suffering with cost overrun and avoidable delays to the consuming public. CREDAI has consistently sought rationalisation of approval processes and single-window system and the demand has been approved in principle by a number of committees. However, action is yet to be seen,” it said.
CREDAI and its over 10,000 members will also appeal to the state government to develop an atmosphere of trust that will enable a spirit of partnership, to ensure that that such episodes never recur and the ‘ease of doing business’ can become a reality, it added.
Recently, a delegation comprising BJP and Shiv Sena leaders and around 30 builders from Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding strict action against the guilty in connection with Parmar’s alleged suicide.
