Traffic screeched to a halt in the city centre on Tuesday morning after hundreds of personnel from the real estate industry took to the street, nearly a week after a realtor killed himself in Thane alleging harassment by government officials.
Builder and member of CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India) Suraj Parmar allegedly shot himself in Thane last Wednesday due to alleged harassment from government departments. As a part of an All-India protest against the “business environment” for real estate developers, CREDAI-Karnataka too closed their offices on Tuesday and took to the streets.
More than 2,000 people are estimated to have gathered in front of Town Hall around 11 a.m., throwing traffic out of gear on the busy Nrupatunga Road, K.R. Circle, Corporation Circle, J.C. Road, Ambedkar Veedhi, and other major roads. The protestors then marched to Vikasa Soudha, where a memorandum was submitted to Bengaluru district in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
ADVERTISEMENT
Among the demands presented in the memorandum was to improve “ease of business” for the developers and for faster approvals. With 30 per cent of the sale price of flats going in taxes and cesses, realtors said they were put in a bind due to the inflating costs of constructions. Similarly, “interference” from various departments, officers and archaic by-laws was making development of land difficult, said the protestors.