As long as the dreaded Mahendra ‘Maya’ Dolas was alive, no one dared mess with any person even remotely connected with him. Now, with the one-time Dawood Ibrahim hitman long gone, shot dead in the famous shootout at Lokhandwala Complex nearly two decades ago, his close relatives are in a big mess and no one is willing to help them.
In the past few months, Dolas’s cousins Harshad and Arundhati, who reside in Mathubhai chawl at Bhoiwada, Parel, have been running from one civic office to the other seeking help to evict a family which, they say, has illegally occupied a portion of their house.
According to Harshad, the house (allotted in the form of a shop) was handed over by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which owns the land, to his parents in 1977. “It is in my mother’s name,” he said. But the allotment came with a rider. While the Dolas family was given tenancy rights, it was asked to allow one Ganpat Kudalkar, who was shown as a dishoused person, to live in an 80 sq ft portion. “A wooden partition was used to divide the room into two,” Harshad said.
Thirty-two years later, the condition is hurting the Dolas family. Plans are being drawn for redevelopment of the chawl. The family has been promised a tenement for the portion it occupies. The portion in which the Kudalkar family has been permitted to stay is not being credited to the family. The Kudalkars instead have bagged the rights for it.
In his plea to the BMC, Harshad has claimed that Ganpat Kudalkar’s immediate family did not even live at the site anymore. “They own two houses,” he said. “Ashok Kudalkar, Ganpat’s nephew, is now staying at our place. He has no right to do so.”
Claiming that it is being denied the space, the Dolas family has now demanded immediate eviction of the Kudalkars.
Architect Suresh Mhatre, who is involved in the redevelopment process, however, contested the claim.
“The Kudalkar family has been residing there for nearly 40 years,” he said. “According to the rules, anyone living in a place before January 1, 1995, needs to be rehabilitated if they have to be shifted. The Kudalkars have submitted papers to prove their residence.”
Harshad, meanwhile, said that as long as he was ‘fairly’ rehabilitated, he had no issue with the rehabilitation offered to the Kudalkars.
Mhatre claimed that the civic body was the competent authority to pass a final verdict in the matter. Civic officials said they are looking into the case.
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