Golibar SRA project full of lacunae: NGO survey

Any project carried out on slums under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) requires the consent of at least 70% local residents. However, as per a survey carried out by Ghar Bachao Andolan, a Non-Government Organisation (NGO)- the Golibar redevelopment project carried out by Shivalik ventures- one of the oldest and probably biggest SRA project at Khar (East) has failed to keep up to this condition.

According to Simprit Singh of the Ghar Bachao Andolan, only 2362 occupants have been served an eviction notice by the district collector’s office. “The numbers clearly show that close to 48% of the residents have not given the consent for redevelopment,” Simprit Singh told DNA. He further added that the report will be submitted to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SRA on Tuesday.

Refuting his allegations, Ramakant Jadhav, director of Shivalik ventures claimed that his company had the consent of close to 90% residents. “We have been following all the legal proceedings in the project since the time we got the Letter Of Intent (LoI) in 2006. However, there have been a number of instances of residents first giving us consents and then going back on their word. Medha Patkar’s NGO (Ghar Bachao Andolan) has tried to malign our companies image,” said Jadhav.
Simprit Singh, however, rubbished all the claims made by the developer.

“If the developer is so firm about his claims on the consent, he should answer some questions such as why are the societies not having a meeting every three months, which is mandatory for a SRA society,” questioned Simprit Singh.