Reconstructed JJ Rd building was allotted to residents 27 years after their original building collapsed in rains
The Rathods – Ulhas (65) and Elizabeth (63) – got the shock of their lives when they saw the house allotted to them this year by the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), a unit of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).
There were no windows, no toilet and bedroom doors, no taps and electricity was snapped. Welcome to United Apartments on Sir JJ Road. United is a reconstructed apartment, after the original building – Hirji Govindji chawl, with four storeys -- collapsed in 1978 during the rains.
Elizabeth, who was living in the building with her five sisters and one brother and parents, also lost her house. After the building collapse, the residents were shifted to a transit camp in Parel village.
According to United Apartment residents, the owner of the land gave the building to MBRRB for reconstruction in 2000. The board finished the construction of the building in 2005, and named it United Apartments.
Those living in the transit camp started taking possession of their rooms from 2006 as soon as they came to know that the building is ready. But to their horror, they found that doors and windows were missing, and electric wires and taps stolen. There are 110 rooms, occupied by 75 families.
Ulhas, whose wife owns the room in the building, said: "After a lot of documentation, we got the possession letter in May. The letter said that the rooms were in good and habitable condition. It also said that all accessories and fittings were in good condition. But when we went to see the room, it had no windows and doors and other things. I contacted MHADA authorities. They cleaned the house, installed taps and started water connection. But they refused to install windows and doors."
"The authorities claim that they have no funds for repair. We are old and retired people and cannot afford to do the repair work. It is not possible to live in such an inhabitable place," Rathod said.
Secretary of the building, Mohammed Khalid, said: "It is true that every flat is in bad shape. They did not provide security after the building was reconstructed. Some anti-social elements stole the stuff from rooms. Not only this, we residents have even paid electricity and water bills that MHADA didn't pay."
Another resident, Shailendra Waghmare, said: "MHADA has also built an electric transformer room inside our building in the ground floor. Twice there was short circuit and we had to call the fire brigade. MHADA should have asked us before building such a room."
Despite repeated attempts, MHADA vice-president S Zende remained unavailable for comments.
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