Standing 500m off the coast, they fail to meet CRZ norms.
At least 350 sprawling high-rises on Palm Beach Road, the Queen’s Necklace of Navi Mumbai, are in trouble for flouting coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) rules.
As a result, residents who have shelled out crores for a flat in one of the innumerable sea-facing towers are still to get occupation certificates (OC). This means no water connection from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and no power supply from MSEDCL (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd).
Government officers say most of these buildings fall within 500 metres of the coastal line. But none of the developers bothered to take the environment and forest ministry’s permission, which is mandatory.
Palm Beach Residency, Regency Group and Metro Constructions in Nerul and National Builders in Sanpada are a few of the blacklisted buildings.
Ajay Jhalani, a resident of Palm Beach Residency, said he has had a harrowing time for the past couple of months. “We do not have a corporation water connection or official power supply,” he said. “The developer [the Wadhwa Group] managed to get temporary power connection. And a tanker supplies water to the building every day.” There are 80 families living in the 25-storey building.
Jhalani said everyone has to buy packaged drinking water. “After paying a hefty sum to buy a flat, we are still spending money on basic things like drinking water.”
He said he never thought that getting an OC would be such a hassle. “We bought the flat because of the Wadhwa brand name. There are four lifts in the building but only one is functional. But the developer has taken a year’s maintenance in advance.”
Jhalani went on to say that the “developer should compensate us for the mental trauma”. “In case of any untoward incident, we will not get any insurance benefits as we do not have OCs,” he said.
Sachin Ghanekar, another resident of the building, said he moved in with his family six months ago. “Since we do not have OCs, there is no corporation water connection. The developer has given us water filters. But this cannot be a permanent solution,” he said. “We just hope the OC issue gets sorted out quickly.”
Despite repeated attempts, Vijay Wadhwa, chairman of the Wadhwa Group, could not be contacted for his comments. A spokesperson of the group said: “We are exploring all possible options... What all can be done to obtain OCs.”
Manohar Shroff, general secretary of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), however, said developers were not at fault. “Cidco [City and Industrial Development Corporation] sold us its prime plots for development. And we started constructions as per their guidelines,” he said.
“Now all of a sudden we are told that we require the environment ministry’s permission. They say it is mandatory because the plots fall under CRZ. But they should have told us this while giving the commencement certificates.”
Appasaheb Jarhad, the acting municipal commissioner of Navi Mumbai, said he took additional charge of NMMC a couple of days ago. “I am still to acquaint myself with the goings-on in Navi Mumbai, particularly Palm Beach Road,” he said. “So, it will be difficult for me to comment on this.”
RA Rajeev, principal secretary (environment), too said he has recently taken charge which is why it would be inappropriate of him to comment.
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