Authorities have fared poorly in registering the housing projects in the state.

The Odisha Real Estate Regulatory Authority, a body formed under the Odisha Real Estate Regulation and Development Rules, 2017, popularly known as Odisha RERA, aims to bring transparency in the real estate sector and save the homebuyers from falling into any kind of trap.

But, the snail’s pace of work has led to poor implementation of the rule in the state.

According to a report of Anarock Property Consultant Pvt Ltd, Odisha has so far registered only 123 projects (nearly 75 per cent) and 12 agents, while Maharashtra is leading in implementing the rules in the country with 17,353 projects (90 per cent) with 15,634 agents.

Odisha was among the 12 states and Union territories, which has enacted the rules first on May 1, 2017, but it lags behind in implementing the rules — the reason for which was attributed to a number of administrative and approval hurdles.

According to the new rules, the government has formed two bodies — the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. The former looks after the registration of housing projects and settlements of grievances, while the later assists the former in doing the same.

There was also a mandatory provision for introduction of a separate website, using which the real estate developers could register their projects voluntarily while the homebuyers would be able to check the authenticity of any housing projects in any part of the state with ease.

Though the appellate tribunal and the regulatory authority have started delivering their work since February, there is no sign of the website on the ground yet. The real estate developers finds it difficult to register their projects with the government because of the lesser known provisions and tight deadlines.

“There are certain provisions in the rules which are far beyond the reach of people. It ties our hand to advertise or start of booking for the houses since it can’t be done without registration of the projects. It further stopped the financial resources from other deals,” said D.S. Tripathy, former president of Credai Odisha, a real estate body.

A senior official of the housing and urban development department said they had done away with certain provisions of the rules. “We have already registered 75 per cent housing projects, and the rest will be done in a month or two. Once the registration completes, we will introduce the website,” said the official.

The Telegraph