In an emotionally charged letter addressed to the union finance minister, Arun Jaitley, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA) has asked the government to instruct all banks to stop collecting EMIs from homebuyers who have not got possession of their flats.
According to the buyer fraternity, several politicians including Jaitley had reiterated in the past that the government will be very sympathetic towards them until possession is acquired.
The letter also alludes to the fact that though the BJP Government had hinged its election manifesto on the ‘Achhe Din’ promise, no positive developments have manifested in the state of UP. The letter further stated that in Noida and Greater Noida, there are more than 5 lakh homebuyers who are paying EMIs to banks, without getting possession. “Moreover, many leading builders have either become bankrupt or serving jail sentences. As a result, construction work at the sites has been disrupted and we have lost all hopes,” said an anxious homebuyer.
Talking to City Spidey, Abhishek Kumar, president of NEFOWA said that flat buyers have already paid around 95 percent of the total amount to their developers. “Most buyers hail from the middle class and live in rented houses. Therefore paying EMIs to the bank is translating to a heavy financial burden for them,” said Kumar.
Sharing a particularly sad experience of one such buyer, Kumar said, “Yogesh Singh, a cancer patient, breathed his last in December as he could not afford to spend any further on his treatment. He had fought for possession even while he was undergoing his treatment (Singh had to stop his treatment in December as all his savings had exhausted). Ironically, Singh had invested the savings of his lifetime on his dream home that he could not live to see. If our demand is not fulfilled by the finance minister, there will be more such unfortunate deaths.”
