Taking serious note of the complaints by home seekers against builders, the home department has put the projects of three city builders on hold.

Home minister RR Patil said that his department would recommend to the BMC and the urban development department not to give any fresh permissions to existing as well as the forthcoming projects of Neelkanth Mansions Pvt Ltd, Neelkanth Realtors Pvt Ltd and Gamon Housing And Estate Developers.

Prakash Mehta of the BJP raised the issue of the cheating of 425 home seekers who have booked the homes in the projects of the three builders at Vidyavihar. The builders repeatedly failed to keep the deadline, after which criminal cases against them were registered. Patil said that his department could not take further action as the builders moved the high court which directed the police not to take any action.

Patil added that the government was sympathetic about the plight of the home seekers who invested their money in the said property in 2004. “We even froze the bank accounts of Neelkanth Kingdom, but had to revoke the action after a court order. We have been pressing for the possession of the houses at the earliest,” he said