Suraj Parmar’s suicide shook the builder lobby. His 15 page suicide note left everyone baffled! His suicide after 24 hours of writing suicide note was a firm decision, which Parmar never went back on. It never changed. 8 pages mentioning on corruption and how “dirty” the system shows the frustration he went through! The Builder association met CM Devendra Fadnavis. CM instead shot back at these people. As per sources in the meeting, CM held the builder lobby responsible for the mess in the Corporations. “Pay and Smile” rule will kill everyone, he said, yes thats for sure. The internal rivalries amongst builders itself is so shameful. One sneak peek in today’s RTI application’s will give clearer picture justifying the statement of internal rivalries. One group cannot tolerate success of another. If one builder is a friend of say one political party, then the other party’s activist’s or blackmailer’s will start putting RTI’s. In turn, there is “compromise” via exchange of huge sums. Also corrupt officers who were a nobody till of late, have turned into the financer’s of these same builders today. Reason…Builder lobby. For securing permission or tweaking some rules a huge amount in form of bribe is paid. An official who was worth some thousands in years suddenly is now worth crores. Parmar was also humiliated. He thought his death would bring in a change, he hoped that “Golden” people will vanish from Thane, but my dear Suraj, you were wrong.
Builders not only from Thane, where Sooraj was did whopping business, but even from Mumbai and nearby areas came together to address the grave issue of “corruption”. Now as per what information I have gathered, for builder’s paying cut’s to the local Municipalities, Pollution Board, Fire Stations, Police Station and so on is NOT NEW. Suraj Parmar was a man worth some hundred crores. Cosmos Group is financially very stable. The business that was incepted by his father, then Suraj and his partners have put Cosmos on altogether different league. Income Tax department had raided his premises just 3 days prior to his death and had handed over him a Rs. 250 crore due notice to pay which shows his “white” and “declared” financial status. He had made a fortune, seen one, unlike most of them. So obviously he was not disturbed with these small issues like paying cut’s and distributing money. After a certain stage, money is not everything friends. A person like Suraj Parmar won’t be shaken for a few projects that didn’t take off. What kills a man, one who has attained everything in life, is disturbance of his self respect. If you all recollect Shahrukh Khan had made a huge cry about being frisked for hours at NewYork Airport when he was travelling to the USA. SRK is a millionaire. For him being frisked is normal and that too accompanied with hours of humiliating questions, now that was lowering his self respect. He had lost it and our media had carried the story as if there is no tomorrow. He was being pushed outside his comfort zone. Then such people get disturbed. They go to any level. Another example of SRK, was his behaviour at Wankhede. Same thing might have happened with Suraj Parmar. As per what information is circulating, Suraj Parmar was disturbed with these inter rivalries with builders, these “golden” politicians around him and yes the on going torture of the government agencies.
Now people like Suraj Parmar don’t come and go just like that. They need a reason to form such a firm decision. The line of business–Construction in itself can be best described as Destruction. A lot of young entrepreneurs who have sided with their mother profession are turning to be small time builders now. Below is an explanation as to is what the next factor that will be proving detrimental in this construction business. One of the major reason will be the Interest’s these builders have to shell out to their financer’s. Yes Interest !! Explain you in detail below.
Now for a novice builder who has ventured into construction business it’s not an easy task. He surely needs a godfather. Godfather who has the necessary muscle and money power. Mind you today these so called big builders were once upon a time, mere strugglers, government liasoner’s, or close to some or the other politician. After a strenuous procedure, these small time budding builder’s procure a small piece of land somewhere in the city popularly known as a Plot. Or after major tussle with the building owners, the builder procures to redevelop a building. Then he hires his engineers and his required team. Now major question is the finance. No financial institution will grant loans for a project until unless you have a major “security” to give to the bank. So in turn these guys turn to local politicians or a financer (please mote major financer’s will be either a Gujrati or a Marwadi seth). So the builder takes required financial assistance from this politician or from shethji and starts his project. Very few in the in industry are the Raheja’s or the Lodha’s. Again mind you, underworld did play a major role in the financing builders as they say, but today it is actually not the case. Anyways, after he takes the required monetary support from these sethji’s or politicians, 70% of the fund goes in the actual construction of the building. 30% they say is distributed amongst our babus. Now if this is the case where does the profit come from. Then comes the super built up areas, flower beds, floor rise, and what not to earn the extra money. Again the builder sells his flats and moves to the next building. But one thing that everyone has missed is why do the local politician or the Financer’s agree to be part of the project. Simple. To earn interest. To convert their back money in white. These politicians give money in major cases only to earn interest per month. In some cases they become partners and share the profits if the project is too viable. Now irrespective if the building is made or not, builders have to shell out interest, yes 2% per month on whatever is invested by these politicians. Nothing less. That means annual 24% return guaranteed on whatever you invest. Say a local Corporator invests 1 crore rupees per month he will be earning Rs. 2 lakhs that too for a fixed period of time. Now if the building remains unconstructed or for any reason permissions are not in place Rs 2 lakhs meter is on. And God forbid, if the building is not completed and the tenure of the loan has finished, Principal amount which this builder had borrowed needs to be returned. Then there are no compromises. Then politicians or financiers stoop to any level to get their money. If you all recollect, Suraj Parmar had mentioned about some Corporator’s and MLA’s been one of the factor’s for his suicide. He later erased the names so that his family and partners could live peacefully later. Now do you all see a clearer picture. What must happened, these politicians must have lent him a big amount for his project and that project must have been put on hold by the Thane municipal Corporation. Occupancy Certificate was held back by the authorities as they had some reservations in the construction. Now the pressure must be mounting by these so called politicians to return the principal amount with interest. Also the project was on standstill, hence inflow of funds had totally stopped. And I believe people like these, never unearth whatever crores and crores they save. So the amount must have been stupendous. Plus the Income Tax had raided some 140 builders on the same day (read dikhtat) and were also harassing him. Now for a company whose turnover is in crores, its not humanly possible to declare each and everything. Which businessman does? Go to Sales Tax Department and ask for section 48(5). All the big corporates along with businessmen are trapped in this. Hence Parmar thought to get all these factors negated, suicide was the only the way Parmar saw.
Again, mind you now even Coporators have huge monies flowing in with them, leave aside MLA’s. The fact that Niranjan Davkhare on a public forum (social media) referred Suraj Parmar as a close friend said a lot of things. Narendra Modi had the will as Gujrat CM to implement online approvals. As usual staff was not keen. He outsourced the entire online approval and told regular employees to get trained. Today 70 of all submissions in Gujarat are approved in 24 hours. Anyone listening? Political will is needed. Our rules need to be simplified and uncluttered and system has to be straight without any hidden agenda. Speedy approvals will speed up the system and prices will also come down. W can save people like Suraj Parmar.
