Real estate
A labourer stacks concrete blocks on his head at the construction site of a residential complex on the outskirts of Kolkata in this November 2, 2015 file photo. India's infrastructure output grew at its fastest pace in four months to 3.2 percent in September from a year ago, mainly driven by higher production of electricity and fertilisers, government data showed on Monday. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) of Haryana has cancelled the licences of and taken over 15 real estate projects in the state for not being able to clear due external development charges (EDC).

The chief town planner of DTCP, Jitender Sihag, had ordered to cancel licences of these projects because the developers have not yet cleared EDC worth Rs 200 crore. "The developers have been restrained from sale, purchase or transaction in these projects. The licences have been cancelled and projects taken over by the director of DTCP," said senior town planner of Gurugram, Bhuvesh Kumar.

The officials said that the move involves all aspects of a project, including security deposits, so that DTCP could complete the stalled projects on its own.

The projects include both housing and commercial, among which nine projects are in Gurugram, three in Karnal, two in Faridabad and one in Hisar. All are mostly small and medium-sized projects with around 1,000 buyers collectively.

As known from an official, the builders have been given a timeline of 60 days to appeal. The licence can be revived if they clear the outstanding dues and remove other discrepancies pointed by the DTCP.

However, the buyers are being assured to not get affected financial. "Buyers have to produce their agreement and the government will serve their liability at the same rate at which they had purchased it from the builder. The government will give the buyers either the property they booked or the money they have already paid, which will be recovered from the bank guarantee and the other assets of the builder," said Kumar.

Commercial projects to be hit in Gurugram include Sector 110, Sector 81A, Sector 88, Sector 102 and Sector 95A, and a housing colony in Sector 84.

The move has come days after the state-run National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC) was asked to revive unfinished projects of Amrapali in Noida. It indicates that the government will no longer tolerate troubled housing projects, especially in NCR where real estate projects are running years behind schedule.