Mumbai:
More than 200 Khar residents have submitted a 29-page petition written in blood to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, asking for his help in preventing a builder from forcibly throwing them out of their houses in the name of redevelopment.
The residents of colonies Jawahar Nagar and Deepakwadi in Khar, and Golibar in Santacruz, say the builder has allegedly threatened and assaulted them and even forged their signatures to start redeveloping the area.
According to the petition (copy available with MiD DAY), Ramakant Jadhav and Prakash Ajgaonkar, owners of Shivalik Ventures, are forcibly redeveloping an area of nearly 1.64 lakh square meter between Khar and Santacruz railway stations under the SRA scheme.
Residents allege the builder is even constructing a 15-storey building in complete violation of
SRA norms, which do not allow for buildings higher than seven storeys.
"The builder is developing the area with the help of local goons and the authorities are acting as mere bystanders because the builder has a link with a former Maharashtra CM.
Residents of the area have been assaulted and threats from the underworld are common," said Simpreet Singh, president of Ghar Bachao and Ghar Banao Andolan, a forum working to prevent the alleged forced redevelopment.
Krishna Nair, president of Shri Baba Co-operative Housing Society, one of the affected colonies, said, "An RTI query has proved that the builder forged signatures in order to show the support of 70 per cent of the residents a prerequisite for redevelopment. You may call it Gandhigiri but the petition is meant to highlight our woes. We may be forced to intensify the protest if justice is not meted out."
Singh said that after they appealed to the High Court in September, it asked the police to file a complaint and have the matter investigated.
On September 19, the Nirmal Nagar police registered an FIR against Jadhav and Ajgaonkar under Sections 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 474, 114 and 34 (related to cheating and forgery) of the IPC. "However, no action was taken on the FIR," he said.
Some residents then travelled to Nagpur to meet the CM during the winter session of the assembly and submitted the petition to him.
Prakash Ajgaonkar, a partner in Shivalik Ventures, said, "I don't care if the residents write letters in blood or ink. If they write a letter in blood, I donate blood. You can go ahead and publish the news. I am not afraid of the press or the police as I have not done anything wrong."