The Hindu 27.04.2013
In upmarket Mumbai locality, residents face demolition of homes
If the buildings violated norms why was BMC silent for so many years, they ask
The possibility of losing the roof over their head never
crossed the minds of the residents at the upmarket Campa Cola Compound
in Mumbai’s Worli area.
But acting on Supreme Court’s
order, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation hasserved demolition
notices on seven buildings in the compound, and asked its residents to
vacate their flats within 48 hours.
Around 140
families, who have been living there for more than 25 years, have filed a
review petition in the apex court alleging that a nexus between the
civic body and builders was behind their ordeal.
In
1955, BMC leased the land to Pure Drinks Ltd. for establishing a
factory. In 1980, it sought permission from the civic body to develop a
large portion of the land for residential purposes, and signed an
agreement with three builders to construct the seven buildings. Out of
the seven, two are towers with 17 and 20 floors respectively, while
three buildings have six floors each and two have seven floors.
According
to BMC, the builders were permitted to construct only five floors and
all the floors above that are illegal. The apex court, in its order on
February 2013, permitted the BMC to demolish the unauthorised floors.
The decision could turn out to be a landmark one for a city battling unauthorised structures.
It
all started in 2005, when the residents of the society, demanding
setting up of a water connection, realised the buildings’ plans were
never officially passed and none of the residents given occupation
certificates despite residing in the buildings for 25 years. This,
despite the fact that BMC officials regularly collected property tax
from the residents.
The flats were purchased 25 years
ago and the purchasers were allegedly fooled by the builders, who told
them that the plans had been put up for approval. In reality, the BMC
rejected all of them. “It was also not told to us that during the
construction the BMC had issued stop work notices and collected
penalties from the builders,” said Rohit Malhotra, a resident at the
compound. Interestingly, the government accepted relevant stamp duty
from buyers while officially registering all the flats.
According
to the residents, many of whom are senior citizens, the BMC’s
demolition notice will destroy their lives even though they were not at
fault . “We are ready to pay the fine for the FSI violation and there
are such provisions in BMC. But since this property is at the prime spot
in Mumbai, the civic body seems not interested in following their own
circulars,” Mr. Malhotra said. If the buildings violated FSI norms then
why were civic officials silent for so many years, he asked.
A senior BMC official told
The Hindu
that the civic body was acting on the Supreme Court’s order. But Mr.
Malhotra alleged that the residents were being targeted and said they
wouldn’t vacate their flats. “They do not dare touch Adarsh CHS, but
want to destroy our lives. We will fight till the end.”
