Khar Gym penalty: Rane ‘ordered’ stay

Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has stayed proceedings against Khar Gymkhana.

Although Rane could not be contacted, Neela Satyanarayan, the principal secretary (revenue), said, “The minister ordered a stay on December 18. It shall stay in effect till the collector’s office submits its reports against the club. Once the report is submitted by the collector, the minister will fix up a date for hearing and then decide if any action needs to be taken.”

However, the collector’s office has not been given any  deadline for submitting
the report.

The club authorities have said in their application to the revenue ministry that they have to pay an exorbitant amount as fees.

The principal secretary said the stay was meant for Khar Gymkhana only and not for other gymkhanas as said by the suburban collector.

But local people are angry with the stay order. Anandini Thakoor, a member of the Khar Residents Association, said, “We are upset and angry with the order. We have written to both the ministers about our problem. How can Siddiqui take sides? We are all his voters. He should have talked with us too.”

Thakoor said the residents were not against the existence of the club because several among them were its members. But they were against the misuse of the premises. “They still rent out the premises and create noise and sound pollution. Why don’t they charge members to run the premise if they cannot pay the sum demanded by the collector’s office.”