BMC helping illegal slums come up? Dahisar residents allege the civic body is indifferent to constructions on a piece of land meant for a secondary school

BMC helping illegal slums come up?

Dahisar residents allege the civic body is indifferent to constructions on a piece of land meant for a secondary school

In what could be another scam involving the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme, chawls have been constructed on a plot in Dahisar that is reserved for a secondary school by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), even with civic authorities being apprised of the same. Although residents of the area drew attention to the illegal construction and also approached the civic authorities, the response they received was too restrained. “We were trying to complain about the illegal construction since it started, but we really had to keep an eye out for when the land was literally taken over in our part of the society compound. Even as we were watching, the work was on. They never listened when we tried to stop them, so we complained to the R North ward office,” said Anil Kalekar, a member of Shree Chintamani Nagar Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. Their complaints, which the ward office did not pay any serious heed to, were then brought to the notice of additional municipal commissioner (AMC), Manisha Mhaiskar. Residents met the AMC personally and briefed her about the situation. But even after a fortnight since then, no action has been initiated by the BMC and the illegal constructions are standing tall. Occupants of the structures are also managing to forge documents to prove that they had been living there since before 1995. Interestingly, no one knows who is behind the construction. Labourers work day and night, but have no idea about the person behind the project. Local MNS corporator Pravin Darekar was also contacted for the help, but he did nothing to give the residents any respite. When DNA correspondent visited the place at Ashokvan in Dahisar near Gurukul School, a man guarding the structure said he had no information about the owner. Assistant Commissioner Dynandev Labdhe could not be contacted, but an official from the ward said that they were under pressure to not act upon the structures. Chairman of the society Nandkumar Kulkarni said that the BMC did act on our complaints. “They did remove the encroachments from our part of the ground, but even when we complained, they did not act against the encroachments on the plot for the secondary school and the one on the other side on the vacant land adjacent to ours. The structures are illegal and civic authorities are well aware of it,” he said. Residents are harrowed with the nature of the illegal residential units as the toilets built for them are connected to storm water drains because they have no access to a sewerage chamber. Secretary of the society Vivek Bhat said that the discharge from the toilets directly do into the open storm water drains, which poses a serious health risk for people in the area. “We have shown the connections to BMC officials. They acknowledged the issue, but have not acted on yet,” he said. Rajan Sawant, another active member of the society, said that the civic officials have not take into consideration the studying who will be studying in such conditions in the school originally meant for the plot. “They came, they saw and they left,” Sawant said.