Displaced families allege that the engineers at the MMRDA are not allotting them the flats and MMRDA officials have rented those flats out.
The 16-km-long Eastern Freeway may have made travelling from South Mumbai to the eastern suburbs easy, but 2,200 project-affected families allege that they have not received homes in exchange for the structures they gave up to make way for the Freeway. However, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) denies any foul play.
Suresh Waghmare, a project-affected person (PAP), who was promised a flat in Vashi in exchange of his home, for the Freeway, said he was left with the only option of going back to his drought-hit village in the Ahmednagar district. “MMRDA had promised me a flat back in 2012 and had also issued me an allotment letter, but no no allotment has been made till date. I am staying in a room where I pay Rs 3,000 as rent per month and I also have to look after my family. If things don’t change, I may have to consider shifting back to my village where I will do farming.”
According to the displaced families residing near RK Studio in Chembur, in 2012, the MMRDA had promised alternate homes to around 7,000 families during demolition. Of these, it had rehabilitated only 4,800 families and the remaining 2,200 are yet to be rehabilitated.
Shubhash Salve, another project-affected person said, “The MLA from our area raised the issue of non-allotment of homes in the Assembly twice, and the chief minister has on several occasions, via a meeting and a reply in the Assembly, directed the MMRDA to allot the homes. It has not yielded any results so far.”
However, MMRDA officials say that those claiming homes have not been allotted are not eligible and they should produce proofs. When contacted, U.P.S. Madan, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA and Vishram Patil, chief of social development cell they were not available for comment.
Displaced families allege that the engineers at the MMRDA are not allotting them the flats and MMRDA officials have rented those flats out. “We have had several meetings with the MMRDA officials and there were times when the officials did not turn up for the meetings. When we go and ask about the status of our rehabilitation, they speak rudely to us,” said Ashok Yadav, another project-affected person.
“According to my knowledge, there are families to be allotted homes. Those making claims to homes do not meet the criteria as they did not provide any documents to prove that they are project-affected people,” said Dilip Kawathkar, spokesperson of MMRDA.
The displaced families have also alleged that MMRDA officials have deliberately changed the names in allotment letters to make them ineligible for the homes.
“I had provided papers which had my name with the spelling ‘Swaminath Jaiswal’, but the MMRDA officials deliberately changed the name to Sameera Jaiswal while issuing an allotment letter, thus making me ineligible,” said aggrieved Swaminath Jaiswal.
The MMRDA had opened the Eastern Freeway for the general public in three segments between June 2013 and June 2014.
