Letters of Intent under SRA have become tradable: Ahir

Ahir said of the 600 SRA schemes which have been approved so far,the builders who have received approval for such projects are not serious. He said the basic permission from authorities and majority consent from slumdwellers for rehabilitation projects has,in a way,become tradable. “The major concern is that in most cases,the builders are trading the LoIs in the market,” Ahir said.

To rectify this mechanism and ensure more credibility of builders,the state government is now proposing an amendment in the Slum Rehabilitation Act. “We will now first check the credibility of a builder applying for project under the SRA scheme,” said Ahir.

Annexure 3,a document that gives a builder’s credentials,will be inspected right at the outset,he said. Currently,this inspection is way down in the list of procedures for SRA projects,he added.

Credibility parameters such as the bank guarantee submitted by builders,the area he has already developed and financial stability will be scrutinised before approvals are granted,Ahir said. This change seeks to do away with cases where tenants keep changing builders as they are unhappy with the existing one.

“Earlier,a developer was appointed after consent of 70 per cent of tenants was obtained through a simple general body meeting. Though SRA department approves proposals on the basis of 70 per cent consent,we are not sure of the credibility of the builder. The tenants later demand a change of builder as they are not happy with the builder and ultimately the project becomes unviable,” said Ahir.

To ensure only genuine players participate,the authority will also register each builder implementing an SRA project and blacklist those who default under the scheme. At present,there is no provision of blacklisting builders. “We have made an amendment in the Slum Act. Now,all builders will now have to register themselves with SRA,” said the minister.

“We will now have 500-odd builders empanelled with the SRA. In case one defaults,his registration with the SRA will be cancelled and he will be blacklisted eventually,” said Ahir.

The state government is also planning to amend the Act to ensure that in cases where tenants withdraw their consent,the scheme does not suffer.