BENGALURU: Problems faced by apartment owners and civic woes dominated the agenda at the interaction with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.
Sitharaman was in the city to interact with Resident Welfare Associations (RWA), apartment dwellers, women entrepreneurs, chartered accountants and bankers to collect their feedback for drafting of the BJP’s election manifesto.
Vikram Rai of Bangalore Apartments Federation said, “We urge the implementation of the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972, by amending the Karnataka Registration Rules, 1965, the Karnataka Apartment Rules, 1974, and other rules to ensure that the whole property -- the apartment units, all assets and land on which these are built -- are conveyed to the group of owners.”
Residents complained that there is a lack of coordination among different civic bodies, saying that they are forced to bribe officials even for petty works. They demanded setting up of an empowered competent authority to address their problems and wanted clarity in grey areas in RERA.
They urged the FM that the GST levied on the maintenance charges paid by them to the RWAs be exempted. Sitharaman said she will convene a meeting with the Union Urban Development Ministry if something can be done regarding the problems.