BMC’s carpet call to builders

The long-pending carpet sale law has now got a push from the civic body. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Tuesday decided that flats in the city should be sold on the basis of carpet area and not on built-up or super built-up area.

Corporators across all parties supported the move raised by Congress corporator Vinod Shekhar, from Colaba. Mayor Shraddha Jadhav ordered a meeting on November 1 with the municipal commissioner to discuss the law, and will also lead a delegation to the chief minister, asking him to implement it.
Vinod Shekhar tabled his demand through a notice of motion in the civic general body meeting.

“Builders are constructing flats and apartments which cost more than Rs1 crore, which are unaffordable for the common man. He ends up paying for the built-up area and gets only 60% area in return. It means the builder cheats the common man and gets 40% of the margin,” said Shekhar.

The notice of motion said that the BMC should initiate criminal action against builders who sell flats on built-up and super built-up area.

“The state’s housing policy, which came into existence in 2007, says flats should be sold on carpet area, but these rules are still on paper and need to be implemented,” said BJP corporator Ashish Shelar.

Shelar added that in the same policy, there is also a provision to set up a regulatory body to scrutinise the sale of flats, but till date no such body has been formed.

NCP corporator Vidya Chavan alleged that builders and developers are robbing buyers of their hard-earned money and authorities can’t do anything to stop this loot.

“Buyers are usually unaware about the actual area of the flat, because the excess area charged for is not uniform and ranges from 30 to 50%. That means when the builder charges for a 1,000-sq ft flat, only 500 to 700 sq ft of area reaches the buyers’ hands,” she said.