Who will return buyers’ money in Sahithi Infra case?
There are strong rumours that the Central government is keep to deploy ED, CBI and Income Tax teams to conduct raids on certain companies to put Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in a tight spot. In this regard, the ED officials are learnt to grilled Sahithi Infra MD Lakshminarayana and sought information on various issues. Within no time, the State government which ignored the victims who staged protests, had suddenly jumped into action and arrested Lakshminarayana. Was the decision made out of concern for buyers or due to fear that the scam will put the ruling party in a soup, remains to be a million dollar question for many people.
The arrest of Sahithi Infra MD Lakshminarayana may have calmed down some sections! But, none have bothered to consider the condition of the buyers who invested their life-long savings in the company projects and all that they want to know whether the government will return their money. Until the entire amount to returned to the buyers, any callousness on part of the State government can put it in a risk of getting discredited. Thus, the realty sector insiders feel that the State government should order an indepth investigation into the case and find out how Lakshminarayana was able to collect Rs 900 crore and for what purposes the amount was used. The government should tak up the onus of returning the amount invested by over 2,500 victims. The Real Estate Guru (REG) has some crucial suggestions in this regard.
Just like the then Congress government handled the Satyam scam, the KCR government should appoint an experts team to deal with the Sahithi Infra case.
This team should collect complete details of those who have invested their money in the projects taken up by the Sahithi Group.
The team should also ascertain the number of people who are eligible to get their investment back.
The data pertaining to how many people bought flats in a certain project, also should be collected.
The construction status of each project should be assessed after considering various factors including time, money and other resources required to complete them. They should also consider number of unsold flats and whether required funds can be raised by selling off these flats.
The officials must collect complete data pertaining to the buyers who gave advance amount for flats and those who are yet to clear the dues. A separate escrow account should be opened and the responsibility for completion of the construction should be entrusted to another builder or contractor. If any additional money is received in the respective project, this amount should be used to complete the other projects.
Thus, all the projects started by Sahithi group should be closely observed and their latest status should be assessed. Accordingly, and the government should act in a planned manner and try to solve the problem for benefit of scores of victims. Otherwise, there is a risk of this issue becoming a headache for the government in the future.
There is complete probability for people who have been cheated into buying flats in the Sahithi group projects, to raise their voice against the State government. To prevent this from happening, the government should stand by the victims and make all efforts to either return their money or complete these projects to deliver them flats.
At least now, the State government should collect details of other companies undertaking pre-launch projects in Hyderabad. The Telangana RERA should have the new chairman and staff for this to take forward.
Notices should be served to the construction companies indulging in pre-launch sales. The RERA should collect complete details like project location, whether the land was purchased or taken for development, amount paid to the land owner and status of all the permisssions sought for these projects.
The RERA should prepare a report on the prelaunch projects in the city and submit it to the state government. As per the RERA Act, strict action should be taken immediately against the fraudsters. Unless the government acts tough and swiftly, there will be a situation where pre-launch projects will go beyond anyone’s control in future.