Punish Mhada officials, realtor for redevpt scam: Housing dept

Mumbai: The state housing department in a probe report has suggested action against the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and a developer over allegations of irregularities in a multi-crore suburban project for redevelopment of Patrawala Chawl in Goregaon.

The report has said that due to wrong calculations while charging premium, the developer benefited to the tune of Rs 414 crore. The report accessed by The Asian Age states that the developer got an additional seven acres for commercial use as the agreement was signed for 40 acres despite the redevelopment being only for 47 acres.

The report also states that the developer of the project should be made to pay for the rent of tenants who had to vacate their homes for redevelopment and are not getting rent from the developer for many years. While Mhada had permitted redevelopment to a local developer from Goregaon, it was later transferred to another developer.

The project since 2008 has been mired in delays over controversies. The housing department had received complaints from residents that the building firm had parcelled out the developer’s sale component in the project to another developer.

The transfer of the sale component was allegedly done without rehabilitating existing tenants. About 678 tenants are to be rehabilitated under the scheme. The homes of these tenants were razed around seven years ago and many have not been given rent by the developer allegedly since three years.

Last year, Ravindra Waikar, minister of state for housing, had appoint a one-member committee comprising former housing principal secretary Shrikant Singh to hold an inquiry and submit a report.

Sanjay Kumar, the new housing principal secretary, submitted the report a week ago to Mr Waikar who has demanded action against the guilty Mhada officials and the developer. Mr Waikar, said, “The report is clearly indicating that there was a nexus between the Mhada officials and the developer involved in the project.

He also added, “The officials, whoever they might be, from the engineers to heads of departments should be brought to book. I am going to submit this report to the chief minister asking him to direct the police to take action against the guilty in this scam.”

When contacted, Hariprakash Pandey, senior vice-president, finance and investor relations, HDIL, confirmed being involved in the redevelopment of Patrawala Chawl but did not comment on the same.  “I would not like to comment about the said report as we have not received any such report nor have I any access to the same.”

Furthermore, a detailed email sent to Mr Pandey asking for his feedback on the matter did not yield any response. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is also investigation case where Mhada officials have failed to obtain their housing stock from private developers.