Nishikant Khajuria
As purchasing land to build a dream house in Jammu city has become virtually non viable for the middle class families in J&K, apartment culture seems gaining popularity here also notwithstanding some apprehensions as well as prejudices of consumers and bottlenecks for the real estate developers in the State.
Land has become too precious to be purchased for housing purpose in suitable sites of the winter capital, which has expanded very fast during the last two to three decades because of large scale migration from rural areas. Further, getting a house constructed is a tardy and tough job, which a salaried class person or a businessman with nucleus family can not afford to do.
On the other hand, by spending around Rs 40 lacs, one can have a beautiful two-room specious apartment in a suitable location in the city with several facilities like 100 per cent power backup, round the clock security and much more, depending upon the offer.
In the wake of such increasing demand of affordable houses in the city, prominent real estate developers started entering into the State a few years back and a number of multi-storey apartment projects were kicked up in the areas near Sainik Colony, Channi, Sidhra, Akhnoor Road, Ploura, etc. Sensing the immense pressure on the land for housing in the city, a few local real estate developers also shifted focus towards vertical growth with more and more multi-storey housing complexes coming up at various locations.
However, despite a big demand for housing and availability of reputed developers in the country, who are ready to invest in Jammu and Kashmir, the real estate industry has not picked up in the State as per expectations and the scope, because of some technical reasons, red-tapism and more particularly the alleged misuse of Article 370.
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and does not allow outsiders from owning immovable property here, has kept developers at bay. Even as these developers are tying up with locals as Joint Venture (JV) partner for constructing multi-storey apartments here, the experience in majority of cases has not been good.
While some prominent groups like Parsvnath Developers were forced to abandon their multi-crore projects mid-way, several others, including Ansal Group, are entangled in the legal battle with the local JV partners, who dictate the terms despite having only 15-20 percent share in the project, Since the non-State developers have the compulsion to tie up for getting land to construct the multi-storey projects, some legal technicalities and alleged misuse of Article 370 facilitate local JV partners in creating troubles. Such cases discourage the other reputed developers for entering into J&K market but also severely hit the interests of the local clients, who do not get possession as well as registration of the property despite making payment in lakhs of rupees. Despite registration of cases by the Crime Branch in such episodes, there was no solution to such complaints and action against the defaulting JV partners.
Red-tapism and non-seriousness of the Government towards encouraging this sector is also responsible for present scenario in which prominent builders are hesitating to enter into J&K market despite great demand in housing sector here.
Even as a few experts suggested that to avoid blackmailing by the local JV partners, the State Government should provide land to the non-State developers through Power of Attorney for registration of the property on the name of the client, others fear that such arrangements would invite un-necessary conditions on the projects and more red-tapism.
Further, at the same time, there are some prejudices and apprehensions among the consumers with regard to apartment culture, which has not yet gained as much popularity in Jammu in comparison to other big cities of the country despite similar requirement of housing. Reports on failure in getting possession of the property, either due to legal battle between developer and JV partner or other technical reasons, force some aspirants not to prefer purchasing an apartment for housing purpose.
Listing some tips for the buyers, Real Estate experts suggest that one should take care of a few aspects while purchasing a flat in the multi-storey apartment. The lay-out plan of the building should have been approved by the concerned Government agencies and the bank for loan purpose. Further, the customer should carefully go through the clause of interest in case of delay in possession of the property and also post possession maintenance. The sale deed/lease deed should be preferably got vetted from a senior lawyer to clear any doubt on terms and conditions between buyer and the seller, the experts added.
According to Ravi Kant, an ex-banker, who is now working in real estate sector, the Government should come forward and devise a strategy to promote this industry in Jammu and Kashmir. “Promotion to real estate sector will not only provide housing to people in Jammu and Kashmir but will also generate employment to thousands of skilled as well as unskilled persons besides giving a boom to economy of the State,” he explained.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
