Dwellers in Collector’s land all set to protest

Residents of more than 200 housing societies located on land belonging to the collector will be holding a protest outside his office in Bandra on Thursday. The protesters have complaint against having to go and seek a prior permission and pay fee for everything from sale/transfer of membership, mortgaging a flat or renting it out. The societies think of it as undue harassment that delays the processes of renting or transferring their properties. 

Close to a lakh flats in Mumbai, and nearly 22,000 societies across the state are affected by this. 

There are close to 3,000 societies in Mumbai itself who are impacted because of this order. They are demanding an amnesty scheme where the government charges them Rs 100 per sq ft and transfers their property from Class B (Land with conditions) to Class A land where there are no conditions from government. Societies allege that in case of redevelopment, they have to pay 25 per cent of the total amount as fee, while in case of mortgage the member has to pay a fee of 0.25 per cent of the amount, and in case of rent the fee is 5 per cent. 

“We have met various representatives of government and political parties in the last few days. We even met Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and we have asked him that the transfer fee from Class B to Class A should be not above Rs 100 per sq ft. Yet our problems haven’t been solved yet and hence we are going to protest outside the collector’s office,” said Salil Rameshchandra, Convener and Chairman, Shivsrusthi Association Housing Societies Co-operative Ltd.

The societies and the association of the societies held a meeting last week where they requested the government not to deny/takeaway their legitimate rights, and resolve to explore legal avenue to end the difficulty they are facing. 

When contacted by DNA, Deependra Singh, Suburban collector, did not respond.