Patna: The real estate regulatory authority (Rera) in Bihar is going to launch an awareness drive to educate prospective buyers of flats and other spaces about their rights and what they should look for in builders before entering into any agreement.

Sharing this information with The Telegraph on Wednesday, newly appointed Rera chairman Afzal Amanullah said: "We're here to regulate the growth of real estate sector in a manner that is consistent with consumers' interest. The awareness drive aims to educate people about the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which has provisions for protecting the rights of the consumers."

The Rera chairman also pointed out that the authority was not there to harass builders or developers. Instead it wanted to work with them as per the rules without playing with consumers' interests.

Rera was set up to usher in complete transparency in the real estate sector and bring in accountability on the part of builders.

According to provisions of the Real Estate Act, consumers having grievances against the builders could approach Rera for redressal and the authority in Bihar is going to encourage consumers to seek help. "We're here to address all such grievances and can assure that complaints would be disposed of within two months, in accordance with provisions of the Act," Amanullah said. Having joined the office two days back with two other members - Subodh Kumar Sinha and RB Sinha - Amanullah maintained that work on registering builders with the authority would soon be expedited. So far, 160 builders have applied for registration with Rera and their documents are being verified before formalities can be completed.

According to provisions of the Real Estate Act, any builder executing a project having more than eight flats or having over 500 sqm area needs to register with Rera.

Also, builders need to earmark 70 per cent of the project cost and put it in a separate bank account. The builders cannot divert this fund for other work.