Builders urge Maharashtra government to review, ease lockdown rules

Real estate developers in Maharashtra have urged the state government to review and ease the partial closure measures issued for the real estate and construction sector. The Builders Association of India, which contacted Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday with the lawsuit, said construction workers were expected to face challenges in meeting workers' vaccination requirements because the majority of workers in construction were below the 45-year-old minimum age. Established for pollination. Relaxation of this age standard is one of their demands. "Since vaccination is only permitted for people over the age of 45 and most construction workers under the age of 45, compliance with the vaccination mentioned in the Standard Operating Procedures by the Maharashtrian government will be difficult," said Mohinder Rijhwani, Head of Mumbai Center. From the Association of Builders India. Also, instead of the time-consuming RT-PCR test, a faster rapid antigen test for Covid-19 testing is allowed for workers. The government has made a negative RT-PCR test mandatory for workers who have not been vaccinated. It also requested that offices of architects, licensed surveyors, engineers, structural engineers, plumbers, and other consultants be allowed to operate at 50% of their capacity, in line with the law firms currently permitted to operate. As part of a notice issued on Sunday to close, the Maharashtra state government announced that construction work will only be permitted for projects where workers live on-site with restrictions on movement outside, except for movements related to building materials. He has ordered that all persons participating in the activity be vaccinated as quickly as possible and until then they must hold a negative test result for RT-PCR to work. Results of these exams will be valid for 15 days from April 10. “Since the majority of workers on our sites are young people, current age standards will prove to be limiting our efforts to vaccinate all workers, and therefore an audit is required.” Harsh Vardan Patodia, National Chair of the Association of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI), said an appropriate approach will help to achieve more vaccines and keep up with the construction activity with the availability of workers. Credai has already announced a plan to provide free Covid-19 vaccination to more than Rs 2.5 crore from construction workers at the sites of more than 13,000 member developers in 217 cities and towns. According to the state government, any breach of declared procedures will result in a fine of 10,000 for the developer and repeated violations can lead to the site being closed until the rules are enforced. In its letter to Thackeray, the Builders Association also requested that sales and back-office offices be allowed to operate to ensure there is no impact on home sales around the Gudi Padwa and Akshaya Tritiya festivals next week, which are generally seeing an increase in sales. Real estate developers are ramping up their current precautionary measures to match the government's partial shutdown directives to ensure the safety of construction workers on their sites. They have already made efforts to vaccinate workers and convince them to take the blows. Workers also get food and shelter on site. There are also measures such as providing daycare in the workplace for children of workers. Also Read: Sunny Leone Buys 16 crore apartment in Mumbai's Andheri suburb