E.P The boom in real estate has seen the emergence of many realtors and builders, your group is foraying into extremely challenging space, what is your assessment of all these?

A.D Yes, it is a very positive sign. We require infrastructure, buildings so that people can live there. Guwahati is a great attraction. There is in fact a great attraction for the North East region. Real estate development is coming up particularly in Guwahati and Shillong. However, people are giving importance to Guwahati only but what would happen to the other states? Maximum development is taking place here in Guwahati only. There does not seem to be any positive attitude in other areas to develop their own cities. Unless you provide better infrastructure and facilities, people will not live there. In Guwahati, fortunately or otherwise a lot of development is taking place because the potential buyers are there. Since Guwahati is the gateway to the Northeastern states, it has given access to commercial houses to set up their businesses there. Trade is definitely picking up. MNCs are encouraged to come here as some infrastructure is available.

E.P Shillong too is developing but what is your assessment of those high rise buildings that are regularly coming up there?

A.D Not much development is taking place in Shillong as no outsiders are allowed to buy property there. The local people should have some vision. If there is no long term vision, a place can not develop. But it has got tremendous potential for the development of tourism. There should be some good hotels and other infrastructure. Shillong is a beautiful place indeed.

E.P Do you think that housing developer would be the most sought after factor in the North East?

A.D When you talk of the boom it is fine but it is an immature boom. There is no proper development that has come to Guwahati or any other place. There must be value for the money spent on the flats acquired because it is very hard earned money. Unless you give value for their money, it is going to be tough. Already, Guwahati is becoming chaotic. There are many other problems too where buildings have developed cracks, plumbing is faulty and various others. Why should the user suffer? I am perplexed really and I wonder why the government of Assam has taken such a long time to form a co – operative housing society. This Act is very much there and it is 60 years old. It is that a proportionate land is transferred to the person and here the builder is not responsible if by unforeseen circumstances the building is destroyed. The agreement is Guwahati. What the government can do is fix up a price area wise so that the revenue generation will be more. The government is aware that certain areas, for instance the VIP Road is very expensive. What the government can do is benchmark the price there.

E.P As the Reserve Bank of India is hiking up the short term lending rates to 0.25 percentage points, do you foresee the tumbling of property prices?

A.D Property value never comes down. It only goes up to a certain level and remains there.

E.P If this happens, will you offer discounts to attract buyers?

A.D We revolve around the buyer and seller. If one likes the property they won’t mind paying more and that is a positive buyer. We prefer to give flats to the users. It’s a user market and in that case the property is maintained in a proper way. And we definitely negotiate for a price and the clients never give us what we ask for.

E.P Is real estate the asset of choice for many in spite of all negative news?

A.D It is very important that one selects a developer. The reputation of a developer is very important. I live in Mumbai and the developers there are giving their services in a positive way. Here in Guwahati, some of the developers do not even have proper legal papers that need to be authenticated by the Guwahati Municipal Council. If one books a flat, it has to be delivered on time.

E.P What motivated you to establish the Guwahati College of Architecture?

A.D As a developer you have to learn to do charity work. Morals and ethics are very important. I am not saying that our developers do not possess that, but it is very important. The Northeastern region, as per the census of the Council of Architecture, requires around 8500 architects. Every state in the country has architects posts but here in Guwahati Municipal Council they do not even have a single architect post. Therefore they are not involved in designing any structure. We have almost 250 architects and out of this number, 50% have retired and the other 50% are attached to the government departments. It was our Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi who invited me to open up a College of Architecture and I liked the idea. I could give back something to the Northeastern region since I have been away from this area for a long time. I am happy that so many architects are involved in our college. We are now in the third year of classes and in another two years at least 50 architects will graduate and will be available for the North East region.

E.P Could you elaborate about the functional literacy that you have begun recently?

A.D Those who have passed their matriculation examinations and those that have failed or are undergraduates and graduates have the most potential and are responsible for making or breaking their own careers. We need to help such people who have tremendous potential and can do great work for the society. What these politicians are doing is that they are talking big. They should help these youths who can become great assets to the country or the state in which they are living. What the MID DAY group in Mumbai is doing is that they have a training centre for such youths. Believe me, their employees are mostly matriculates and undergraduates. They are the most reliable people in the country. Since this group lacks certain qualifications to be at the helm of affairs, their main aim is to work hard and through this they will achieve their goal. They are faithful and useful too.

Functional literacy is useful for the country and the society. One may not be good as  a politician but the same person is good in art. He could become a great artist in the long run. Let the politicians do whatever they like but someone or some organisation should come forward to do the best for such people. They can be trained to be motor mechanics, carpenters, machine men in printing presses and a thousand other such professions. This is how they can earn their livelihood. Because of the lack of functional literacy many of the youths in the country have gone astray. They have been neglected by the society.