Khar residents allege foul play in chawl razing

Khar residents have alleged a Rs 300-crore Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scam, involving a private developer, deputy collector Sandeep Kalambe and police officials. It is alleged the nexus of developers-officials initiated a demolition drive for redevelopment of the 150-year-old Fernandes chawl in suburban Khar. The residents claimed the developer had forged signatures of residents to facilitate the demolition.

The chawl spread over 922 square-meter plot originally located in a gaothan is also known as St Anthony Cooperative Housing Society.

Of the total 47 tenants, structures of around seven tenants of the chawl were demolished on April 21 and April 26. This was done despite the probe initiated by the Khar police on request of SRA officials back in 2011 had revealed there being a forgery on the part of the developer in order to obtain LOI (Letter of Intent) and IOA (Intimation of Approval).

The SRA on April 2 had also directed the developer Derisa Builder to revalidate the plans approved by the authority in terms of IOA as the permission obtained in 2011 is only valid for four years and later the developer is expected to apply for fresh permissions.

“Of the 47 members only 20 members were in support of the Derisa Builder and the developer managed to get consent of other tenants by forging the signatures. We had also approached the Khar police and filed a case which revealed the fact that the developer had managed to forge signatures to obtain necessary clearances from the SRA,” said Anita Pinto, a resident of the society.

Another resident, Iqbal Patel, whose shop was razed in the demolition drive said, “The developer forged the signatures of tenants who are not even alive and two of them have died in the year 1994 and 2000 and we have their death certificates. The developer bribed everyone which helped him carry out the demolition in spite of the LOI expiring and IOA being cancelled.” When contacted Mr Kalambe, deputy collector, said, “I has done nothing wrong and later disconnected the call.

Senior police inspector Ramchandra Jadhav from the Khar police station who was involved in the investigation and in providing security arrangements to deputy collector for carrying out the demolition drive said, “I have followed the orders of the Bombay high court and I am supposed to give protection to any official requesting the same; I have not done any wrong.”

However, Aftab Siddique, chairman of the 33rd road Khar Advance Locality Management claimed that after residents had approached the high court, it had in January 2016 ordered them to abide by the terms and conditions of the LOI. Now, when the developer has no permission to redevelop after the SRA direction to revalidate the plans of the structure, for what was the demolition carried out ”

Trivankumar Karnani, legal advisor of Derisa Builder, said, “The allegations against the developer are frivolous, malicious, defamatory; it’s an intentional and deliberate attempt to sabotage the redevelopment. The same allegations were made before the HC and even SC. All the competent courts have heard the case at length and in detail and subsequently passed detailed orders which must be respected.”

SRA chief Aseem Gupta in a meeting on May 12, 2016 stated he couldn’t interfere in the notice of 33/38-eviction process.