Gujarat Confidential: Penalty pinch

THE SURAT Builders Association (SDA) has written to Mayor Daxesh Mavani, raising concerns about the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) “consistently penalising private real estate developers rather than giant construction firms”.

The SDA wrote that big ticket projects such as Surat Metro Rail Network, development works of SMC and the construction works of government buildings are in progress in Surat. They also flagged some “lapses” at these sites, and claimed that the firms concerned had not been penalised yet. They also requested that as it is “peak season”, meeting deadlines is crucial (and the crackdown was delaying that). The SDA, a member of the CREDAI body led by its Surat president Jignesh Patel, requested the SMC authorities to be lenient towards the “small and midsize builders”.