With each passing day, Rashid Siddiqui, with his ten family members, is reeling in tremendous financial pressure to cope with the increasing rent for his flat. Rashid is among those hundreds of families whose buildings have gone under redevelopment but the projects have been stalled as the structures fall in a 500-metre radius of the Central Ordinance Depot (COD) land.
On the one hand, their apartments are either demolished or are not habitable, while on the other, many developers have stopped giving rent as the projects have become financially unfeasible for them.
Rashid admits that his building is indeed dilapidated and is not fit for dwelling. "We had two flats in Raksha CHS, Ashok Nagar in Kandivli (West). Initially, the developer did give a rent of Rs45 per sq ft. But after a year, he explained to us that a government Resolution (GR) has prohibited development around defence land and therefore he cannot go on paying rent endlessly," said Rashid adding that they have no option but to pay the rent themselves.
Residents like Rashid have now decided to wait until December end. After which they propose to take a review of the situation and seek some solution from the government.
In 2010, the state government issued a GR and in 2011 Defence Ministry had laid down rules stopping all developments around 500 metres of defence land. Due to tremendous land crunch in the city, many defence installations are closely surrounded by the civilian constructions. The defence land which stretches from Malad to Kandivli (up to Thakur Complex and Thakur Village in the western suburbs of north Mumbai) has put a brake to the development of at least 650-odd buildings. Residents of at least 70 such buildings have already entered into an agreement with developers and have vacated their homes.
While a few buildings have been demolished to the ground level, several others are dilapidated and have been declared 'dangerous' to reside in by the civic authorities. Most of the occupants of these buildings have been living on rented accommodation.
Hundreds of residents from the area had got together on December 10 to express their grievances and had took out a candlelight march. Other residents from the area had also showed their solidarity.
Kamlesh Nayak, another resident from the area, said that his building Ashok Anand CHS went under the redevelopment process in 2011. The builder was given intimation of disapproval (IOD), which is required to kick off the project. But when the developer sought Commencement Certificate (CC) he was denied the same citing the new GR. The developer tried putting up the files on two occasions, but was rejected. "We were given a corpus fund and rent for two years as we expected the project will be completed by then," said Nayak.
Dhiren Shelat, a resident of Malad (West), whose building Ajitnath Nagar on SV Road is under a redevelopment project, said that they had got permission up to the plinth level and then suddenly evrything is stand still since past three years. "Those who have purchased the flats years ago with their savings thought that they would get new and spacious houses after redevelopment. But with the GR, their dreams are now shattered. These senior citizens are in shock. People have to shift from one rented flat to another every eleven months like wanderers," said Shelat.
Developerspeak
* A developer from the area, not wishing to be named, said that there was no choice with them but to either stop paying the rent or to cut it down by half. "While a few residents have continued to shell out the rents even after three years, many cannot cope with the increasing rent in the area. The rent for 1BHK is at least Rs20,000-22,000," he said.
* Another developer said that the amount of money they have already pumped into the projects while seeking sanctions is huge. Lot of investors have pulled in money and huge amounts have been taken on credit from the market. Though the delay is due to the GR, the credibility of developers has also been questioned by the residents. "They don't understand technical glitches. Only thing they can talk about is that their homes are at risk. We do not blame them, but who will listen to us. We have to shell out a lot of money while seeking the IOD and various NOCs from BMC. After all that, now we are stuck," he added.
* Paras Gundecha, director of Gundecha Group and ex-president of MCHI, said, "We had made several presentations with the earlier government and also with
ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan. But nothing positive happened either from the state or the central government. However, CM Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP government at the Centre seems to be promising. We are hoping for the best. Developers and residents both are in problem. Somewhere the government will have to step in and provide a solution. It's the hard-earned money of the public which is at stake," said Gundecha.
What is the GR?
The state government in 2010 prepared a guideline for construction near all the defence lands. The government insisted that an NOC from the defence authorities was mandatory for any construction in its vicinity. In 2011, the defence ministry came up with guidelines stating that if the unit head of the defence unit objected to the construction and treated it as a security threat, then the construction will be stopped. Also, the ministry laid down the restrictions for the constructions within 500-metre radius of the installations.
The silver lining
The only hope for the residents was the assurance that the CM had given on the floor of the house. Local MLAs from Kandivli Atul Bhatkhalkar and Yogesh Sagar from BJP raised the issue in the winter session of the legislative assembly. CM Devendra Fadnavis has assured them that the residents will get respite as the matter has been alleviated to the central authorities.
Meanwhile, Gopal Shetty, MP from north Mumbai, had also made a representation of residents and developers in Delhi and requested the authorities to expedite the decision. Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar has assured the delegation of a positive outcome. Earlier, Sanjay Nirupam, ex-MP, had also made several representations from the residents' side.
Voice
Ashok Desai
Our society Om Shiv Ashish CHS had gone under redevelopment two years ago. However, for the past eight months, the developer has stopped giving the rent. While those who could not afford have come back to live in the same dilapidated building, there is constant fear of slab collapse in them.
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