Pune based Maple Group’s 'housing for all' scandal lacked mandatory disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act. The Act mandates voluntary disclosure of information about the scheme on government websites, which are primary public domains for transparency
Sachin Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director of Maple Group, fraudulently and audaciously used photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Pune’s Guardian Minister Girish Bapat in the company’s full-page advertisements in newspapers luring buyers to register names for the PM’s prestigious Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme. The scheme PMAY promises housing for all by 2022 and is targeting the weaker sections of the society. Aggrawal launched his ‘housing for all’ or ‘Aapla Ghar’ scheme on the auspicious days of Gudi Padva as well as Ambedkar Jayanti.
Maple Group, boldly declares this scheme in newspapers, TV as PMAY scheme, despite the fact that the state government’s mission director of PMAY has categorically stated that no such scheme has been sanctioned in Maharashtra, as yet. The state government has finally directed Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) to initiate criminal action against him. However, despite more than 10 days having passed by since the scandal broke out, only his accounts have been frozen. He is still roaming free.
What is shocking, is that, a couple of days back, Agarwal was seated along with Girish Bapat, the Minister in the TV studio for a live primetime debate of Zee 24 Taas on the issue. Police had entered the premises of the TV channel office to arrest Agarwal, but returned empty handed. This follows the filing of a first information report (FIR) against Maple Group and Agarwal for this fraud, in which they have illegally collected registration fees of Rs1,145 each from nearly one lakh prospective buyers (the number of which he brought down to 20,000 after it turned out to be a big scam).
Under this scheme, such collection is illegal. While the police allegedly pretended to nab him, with several of them running up the stairs to reach the TV channel’s newsroom, Agarwal came out from the studio, was protected by his 50-odd men and rode away pillion on a scooter of one of them – all in front of the police. Police acted helpless and Bapat, the Minister says nothing shocking about this escape. See the video here to believe this incredible story: (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59VnOjc7ZQ).
What does it imply? That, despite Maple Group having played with the aspirations of the people by misusing and abusing PM’s and CM’s names, politicians and law enforcing authorities are supporting him, brazenly, as shown in the video and clandestinely too.
Right to Information (RTI) activist, Vijay Kumbhar, who spotted the advertisement on 14th April (on Gudi Padva Day) and became suspicious. He wrote a formal complaint to Chief Minister Fadnavis, but did not receive any response. It is only after the CM’s party colleague and Member of Parliament (MP) Kirit Somaiya dashed off a letter, that CM Fadnavis ordered action against the builder.
Kumbhar says, “Only very few people would know that the PMAY is to be implemented through four verticals giving option to beneficiaries, Urban Local Body’s (ULB) and State Governments. These four verticals are ‘In situ’ Slum Redevelopment, Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy, Affordable Housing in Partnership and Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction. However this was not mentioned in the advertisement for which (the Maple) group was inviting applications. It appears from further developments that they were talking of Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy (CLS).”
What adds fuel to the fire is the fact that, the Maple Group in this scheme is collecting processing fee without any authority as mentioned in the PMAY guidelines. Kumbhar says, “As per the PMAY, primary lending institutes (PLI) will be given a lump sum amount of Rs1,000 per sanctioned application. PLIs will not take any processing charge from the beneficiary. That means collecting processing charges from flat buyers was not allowed.”
Since this scheme affects a large number of people, the information related to it comes as suo motu disclosures under Section 4 of RTI Act. The PMAY guidelines state that the scheme has been designed for:
? Economically Weaker Section (EWS) households with an annual income up to Rs3.00 lakh.
? Lower income group (LIG) households with an annual income between Rs3.00 lakh to Rs6.00 lakh.
Hence, it was the mandatory for the central government to create a new website or put up all information on to an existing website to let the people know what it is all about, in a people-friendly way. The advertisement of Maple Group had received huge response from all corners of Maharashtra.
Kumbhar says, “A group of 50 people were all set to come to Pune from rural Maharashtra for booking their flats until they read about the controversy.”
What about the Maharashtra State Government? Just yesterday, on 20th April, the urban development department, issued a circular that all processes pertaining to building department comes under suo motu disclosure under Section 4 of the RTI Act. It also directed all public authorities to put up the information with immediate effect, on its respective websites. Here is the link: (
https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/Marathi/201604201705339425.pdf). This means, it includes the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana too, as it has already constituted its state appraisal committee with Project Director as its head.
It is only when the right kind of information reaches the common man that con men like Maple Group will be wary of brazenly fooling them. For this Section 4 of the RTI Act is the only answer. Till then, we will continue to have Maple Group like frauds, with few activists like Kumbhar, picking up the gauntlet to bring out their wrong doings in public.
| What is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) | | | | The scheme comes with an aim of constructing more than two crore houses across the length and breadth of the nation within a span of next seven years. This means the scheme which is started in year 2015 would conclude successfully in the year 2022. The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be poor and people living under EWS and LIG categories in urban establishments of the country. | | | | Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource | | | | Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy | | | | Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors | | | | Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction | | | | Primary Lending Institutions are Scheduled Commercial Banks, Housing Finance Companies, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), State Cooperative Banks, Urban Cooperative Banks or any other institutions as may be identified by the MoHUPA. | | |
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(Vinita Deshmukh is consulting editor of Moneylife, an RTI activist and convener of the Pune Metro Jagruti Abhiyaan. She is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting which she won twice in 1998 and 2005 and the Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding media person for her investigation series on Dow Chemicals. She co-authored the book “To The Last Bullet – The Inspiring Story of A Braveheart - Ashok Kamte” with Vinita Kamte and is the author of “The Mighty Fall”.)
