Maha Govt files ‘cheating’ case against Maple Group

A complaint was filed at the Shivaji Nagar police station in Pune by the State Government against The Maple Group which had recently published advertisements to promote its housing scheme that offered a one-bedroom-hall kitchen flat for just Rs 5, 00,000 on the outskirts of Pune.

The government had earlier issued a notice to the Maple Group seeking clarity on the misleading advertisements carrying images of PM Narendra Modi, CM Devendra Fadnavis and Pune Guardian Minister Girish Bapat. “We had also shot off a letter to the developer to inquire about the credentials of the project. However, since this did not elicit any response, it prompted us to lodge a complaint against the group suo-moto,” said Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of police.

The case has been registered under 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 417 (cheating), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of IPC against Maple’s CMD Sachin Agarwal, MD Navin Agarwal, Sales Manager Priyanka Agarwal and other officials.

The alleged misleading advertisements gave an impression that the ‘Maharashtra Housing Scheme’ project was a part of Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana. However, the state government has clarified that Maple Group’s project was in any way linked with the Central or state government housing schemes.

The Group, through the adverts, tried to cheat people into buying apartments at Rs 5 lakh and collected non refundable amount. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Mission Director of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) have slapped a notice to the group asking them to withdraw the controversial advertisements, stop collection of money and refund the amounts collected immediately.

PM Awas Yojana gets MHADA attention

Shifting its focus to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to construct homes in semi-urban cities of the state, the MHADA in its financial budget tabled on March 28, has proposed to yearmark Rs 2,500 crore for the financial year 2016-17.

till now, MHADA under the lottery system, has constructed houses in major cities However, it has now started receiving proposals from various municipal corporations and zilla parishads of Maharashtra that include Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Nanded and Aurangabad municipal corporations and Mhada’s Konkan Board for funding construction of homes under the PMAY model.

A senior MHADA official said that when it comes to allocating budget for construction of homes, the Centre’s PMAY should also be explored and represented equally. “Out of the Rs 3,000 crore set aside for the budget for FY 17, we plan to allocate Rs 2,500 crore for construction of homes under both lottery and PMAY schemes,” he added.

PMAY replaced the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana (RGAY) on June 25, 2015. To address housing requirements of masses, the Central government has set four components in the yojana that include slum redevelopment by using land as resource, credit link subsidy where home loans will be given at an interest rate of 6.5 per cent for 15 years, followed by giving a subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh for constructing houses in villages.