News: About 190 realtors in Gurugram owe Rs 6,707 crore to government in EDC-25-05-2022
In fact, as many as 190 developers in Gurgaon — including major ones like Supertech, Vatika, Raheja, Vipul and IREO — have defaulted on the payment of Rs 6,707 crore to the state government by way of EDC, a response to an RTI query has revealed.
GURUGRAM: While the residents of Gurgaon, mainly those living in the new sectors along the Dwarka Expresswa y and Southern Peripheral Road, are struggling due to lack of infrastructure, the government agencies blame paucity of funds due to non-payment of external development charges (EDC) by developers.
In fact, as many as 190 developers in Gurgaon — including major ones like Supertech, Vatika, Raheja, Vipul and IREO — have defaulted on the payment of Rs 6,707 crore to the state government by way of EDC, a response to an RTI query has revealed. Though the pending dues have come down from Rs 9,933 crore in March 2021 to Rs 6,707 crore, it has derailed the development of infrastructure in the city.
As per the records of the department of town and country planning (DTCP), 66 of them have been classified as major defaulters with over Rs 20 crore EDC dues pending against each as on March 31, 2022.
EDC is the money that a builder has to pay for infrastructure work outside the compound of a project. It includes charges for approach roads, drains, electric poles and any other infrastructure that a government agency may build for the project.
A senior DTCP official said the ‘Vivad se Samadhan’ scheme was extended by the chief minister for six months, resulting in the recovery of dues from the developers to a large extent.
“It was recently decided at a high-level meeting that those builders who have pending EDC dues of over Rs 20 crore will be served notices either to pay up through the settlement scheme or face action like no further approvals to their existing projects or no new licences for any of their future projects,” he told TOI.
The DTCP and the real estate regulator are working on a mechanism by which 10% of EDC will be deducted from the 70% amount in escrow accounts of projects maintained by Rera. By this way, a part of the EDC will be collected,” another official said. Developers have to deposit 70% of the collections from homebuyers in a project in an escrow account so that the funds are not diverted.
