#CEDAI’s token strike today over death of Thane chapter head

NOIDA: Realty developers’ body Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), consisting of nearly 11,500 members, will be observing a token strike on Tuesday to mark solidarity to late Suraj Parmar, president of Thane chapter of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (CREDAI-MCHI).

Last week, Parmar ended his life due to alleged harassment from various government departments and their repeated demands for bribes.

All CREDAI member developers will protest by closing their offices, site offices, registration and all construction work on October 13, the first day of the Navratra festival. Members of CREDAI from Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway will hand over a memorandum to Rama Raman, Chairperson of the three development authorities governing the areas. The memorandum will enclose an appeal from CREDAI and its members to the government to create the right atmosphere of trust and co-operation. The memo will further appeal the government to take action to prevent delay in projects due to political interference and corruption so that the members could invest all their strength in building a strong nation.

“The aim is to ensure that that such episodes never recur and the ‘ease of doing business’ can become a reality,” said a member. “We have consistently sought rationalization of approval processes and single-window system but action is yet to be taken,” he added.

Suraj Parmar of Cosmos Group was one of the prominent names in the real estate in Thane region of Maharashtra and had delivered numerous landmark buildings across Mumbai and Thane region. In the 15-page suicide note that Parmar left behind he allegedly wrote that he had been facing “harassment” from various government departments and was tired of repeated demands for bribes.