Take away my good name
& Take away my life- Anonymous
Though clichéd, I cannot
resist quoting Shakespeare from Romeo & Juliet here “A rose by any
other name would smell as sweet” due to the apt context. But apparently
Mumbai builders seem to disagree with the Bard and have launched into a
renaming spree while selling properties. Obviously they firmly believe that the
so-called “lesser” known locations will benefit from them being herded along
with their more “popular” cousins. Yeah! As if calling Dahisar as Upper
Borivili will change the property value of a housing project overnight and give
it the sheen and polish it was missing till now.
Zero effort “relocation”
Maybe the builder
communities can pressurize the respective municipal corporations to change the
geographical boundaries of their jurisdictions and probably coerce the local,
jurisdiction-bound police stations too to stretch their precincts. Imagine how Borivili’s
“poor cousins” Dahisar & Mira Road benefits immensely after this renaming
is done with. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in all its splendour and glory,
not to mention the wildlife, will suddenly come closer to Mira Road. I mean who
wouldn’t want their address to read as XYZ Heights, opposite SNGP, Mira Road?
That too without any of them gravitating an inch towards each other.
If the readers are
confused about moving to Upper Worli from plain old Lower Parel as the result
of a single full page advertisement in the leading newspapers, without any legal
agreement, you have the builder fraternity to thank, for this overnight
miracle. They have researched extensively and found out that Wadala residents
were extremely distraught about their location on the map and decided to move
them a little bit to the south of Mumbai. Not literally but at least on the
first page full-page ad. And suddenly, New Cuffe Parade was born.
Developers-Taking buyer’s
for granted
Every suburb in Mumbai,
Thane & Navi Mumbai has its own share of history and I am sure its
residents would be proud of it, without ever feeling the need to “borrow” some
from its next-door neighbour. Today’s property buyer is an informed one and
certainly has enough “vision” to see the signboards that proclaim the suburb’s
name. But the property developers have a single aim while doing so-SELL
PROPERTY and the present lot will “move mountains” in their quest.
Cases of blurring
boundaries are on the rise by the day and developers are trying make hay by
shifting locations, as seen in Upper Worli & Upper Borivili, and in certain
cases, making them jump over long distances too, as seen with New Cuffe Parade.
At this rate, I am sure Virar will soon become “Super Upper Borivili” and
Kalyan/Dombivili will be known as “New Thane”. This senseless renaming has to
stop and fortunately we buyers are legally fortified through the Consumer
Protection Act, 1986 which takes a strong stand against misrepresentation of
facts. If a section of property developers feel that their prospective buyers
will buy their bluff, they sure need to reconsider their strategy, if not
rename it!
Credit : Ramprasad Padhi
Founder & CEO - MumbaiProperties
President - Association of
Real Estate Agents (AREA)
No comments:
Post a Comment