The Times of India  24.08.2010

MUMBAI: The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), which currently operates out of a Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) building in Bandra (E), will in a week's time move to a sprawling office nearby. The new SRA office, located near the Bandra (E) railway station, is spread over 40,000 sq ft and has come with a price tag of Rs 50 crore.

The office will be inaugurated by the chief minister Ashok Chavan. The shifting is already underway and attendants keep flitting around the polished granite stairs, hauling up files of various slum projects in the city.

The new SRA office is located right next to that of realty giant HDIL. To gain access to new SRA office, one has to walk through the HDIL compound which is lined with swanky cars, including Mercedes and Porsche SRA's chief executive officer Sambhaji Zende Patil told TOI that the new office has been built by Mhada. "We will soon built a wall to separate our office from that of HDIL," he said. "We bought the new office space for Rs 43 crore and have spent Rs 7 crore on doing up the interiors. But this is still cheap considering the prevalent market rate."

The new SRA office is now ground plus five and will house 139 staffers who process all the slum redevelopment schemes. "Our old office was cramped. The new office will allow us to function in a more organized manner," he added.

The Times of India  17.08.2010

MC to get plan for locating CRZ violators in Vaddem

PANAJI: The high court of Bombay at Goa on Monday directed the state government to submit a copy of the schematic CRZ plan to the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) for identifying the CRZ violators at Vaddem Bay, Vasco.

A division bench comprising Justice A S Oka and Justice F M Reis passed the order during the hearing of a petition filed by the Mormugao Port Trust. The petition pointed out that the MMC had failed to act against 194 illegal hutments at Vaddem Bay despite orders from the high court directing them to take action against them in accordance with the law. These hutments are allegedly in violation of the CRZ Notification, 1991, and the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the petition stated. The MPT stated that the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) had also failed to act in the matter.

In its petition, the MPT also proposed to bear the costs of rehabilitating the alleged illegal occupiers to Adarshnagar area, under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) of the Union ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation.

During the hearing on Monday, advocate generalSubodh Kantak filed the schematic plan before the court. Thereafter, the bench directed the government to give a copy of the plan to the MMC and other authorities so that the authorities could take action against the CRZ violators.

The court will hear the petition further next week.