Bhupendra Vera who spent a religious life moving around barefoot took the mantle against illegal construction religiously
Bhupendra Vera's story - the sixty year old who was shot dead on Saturday night - could well be one of many in the city whose fight against illegal construction starts when it reaches their doorstep. And, eventually turns into a larger cause against rising illegal constructions in the city.
"We used to have a factory workshop. We locked it down for some time and during this period, Razzaq Khan grabbed our shop like he was doing with most others. He has now given the place on rent which should have ideally been ours," said Sheela Vera, Bhupendra's daughter in law.
From then on, Bhupendra Vera who spent a religious life moving around barefoot took the mantle against illegal construction religiously. "Ever since he became an activist for the past five years, he would work against illegal construction with perseverance. We need to learn from his martyrdom," said Loy Dias, vice chairman of Voice of Kalina, an organisation of like minded residents formed to fight civic issues.
Vera's family said that his father bought the place where he lived in a Pagdi system. "We would pay rent to this person who sold the place to us in Pagdi system in 1974. Only in 2014 did we get to know that it does not even belong to him and that he took it from someone else. There are a lot of illegal constructions in the area and like most others my father was fighting against it," said Sheela Vera, Bhupendr'a daughter-in-law.
"When he was told that even his house would get affected if illegal constructions were to be demolished, he was for it. He said that you go ahead and demolish that too. He wanted the officers to take action. He would file RTI applications with the BMC, SRA and even Lokayukta to know what action was being taken. Had the authorities taken action, this would have not happened. Lokayukta even passed an order in his favour and action was pending on October 21 by BMC," said Clarence Pinto, another member of Voice of Kalina who worked closely with Vera.
His supporters are planning to have a protest march to the police station if those family and friends who are allegedly involved are not arrested. "Vera was very happy when he heard the news that action will be initiated on the issues he had taken up," said Ashwin Suvarna, another person who worked closely with Vera.
P N Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner H / East ward (Bandra to Santacruz east) did not answer calls or reply to messages from DNA
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