The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 7th April 2017: The deadline date for housing societies of Mumbai to correct BMC capital valuation of their properties is fast approaching, and society managers and office-bearers have clearly been caught unawares. With less than one week left, property owners should act quickly in the next six days, or risk having to struggle with unduly high property tax rates for years to come. Unknown to most Mumbaikars, MCGM issued a circular last month giving notice that the Capital Valuation for the forthcoming years has been completed for fixing up property tax applicable to property owners and that "they will be available for inspection at the office of the Asstt. Assessor and Collector in the respective wards… between 23rd March 2017 to 13th April 2017." It added that "complaints against the Capital Values... must be made in writing by the property owners themselves or by the persons duly authorized by them under a power of attorney." BMC’s notice may be down...

Mumbai, 14 March, 2015: Planning to kill yourself and your family after a tasty meal? Go to Golden Chariot Restaurant. Blocked fire-exits and various other dangerous practices makes this restaurant at Goregaon's Hub Mall your best bet at achieving a fiery death. Although activists like Shaikh Fakhruddin Junaid, Sulaiman Bhimani and myself have repeatedly pointed it out to Mumbai's Municipal Corporation and Mumbai Fire Brigade, the ability of Golden Chariot to bribe the powers-that-be and also abuse judicial processes has helped it to survive. But orders passed by MCGM and Fire Brigade in 2017 suggest that Golden Chariot's goose is being slowly cooked. After the restaurant finally caught fire on 29th December, 2016 (read newspaper reports here and here ), civic authorities are finding it difficult to dodge their responsibility to ensure public safety by sealing it. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Kiran Achrekar and Deputy Chief Fire Officer V N Panigrahi have ordere...

Mumbai, 13th January, 2017: K Raheja Constructions got away with lots of violations in their Horizon Green project in Borivali East . They succeeded in procuring Drainage Completion Certificate (DCC) and Occupation Certificate (OC) in early 2015 without actually constructing drainage. T o hoodwink potential flat-buyers and early-bird occupants , the Rahejas tried to secretly dig a soak-pit in December 2015. T he plan was to cover up the lack of a sewage connection by channeling the sludge into a soak pit and pumping it out every month . But this plan backfired when residents of the neighbouring building alerted BMC , who slapped a stop-work notice . But the Rahejas defied the stop work orders, continued the work and complet ed the soak-pit. So MCGM lodged a police complaint and got an FIR registered against the Rahejas . Illegal soak pit of Horizon Green building under construction in December 2015 Click here for PHOTOS of Horizon Green’s soak pit. Clic...

Mumbai, 30 th December 2016: Did you know that Mumbai municipal officials can bulldoze and smash entire streets without official paperwork? No show-cause notices, no letters and memos, no demolition register entries, no records whatsoever. It's like normal BMC tod-phod in broad daylight, except there's no paper trail. If you ask under Right To Information, BMC says, “No records exist”. On the morning of 10 th December, 2015, Dinesh Bhosle (Sub Engineer H/West Ward), Vikrant Manyar (Junior Engineer) and Siddharth Kasare (petty works contractor) went to 40 th Road, Old Khar West with casual labourers and a hired bulldozer, and smashed up many shop extensions. Here's a video of the demolition , with local resident Imran Mansuri (red shirt) arguing with BMC officials and a policeman. Constable Sanjay Ware in this photo was identified by Khar Police Station in response to Imran’s RTI application. Following Mansuri's complaint to Deven Bharti , Joint ...

Mumbai, 24th December, 2016: Mumbai Police recently filed FIR against K Raheja's Palm Grove Beach Hotels Pvt Ltd . Reason? V iolation of Town Planning Act by unauthorized construction of a drainage line in November-December 2015. Many months e ar lier, Palm Grove misled MCGM into giving Drainage Completion Certificate and  Occupation Certificate (OC) for their new building Horizon Green without drainage. T o make up the lacuna, the developer belatedly built a drainage line going uphill. That's right, uphill! T he Deputy M unicipal Commissioner's remarked on 5th January, 2016, "Validity of issue of occupation certificate dated on 18.4.2015 is doubtful " .   I f any flat -owners take possession and come to stay in their flats, they are in for a rude shock . W hen they start having baths and flushing toilets in sufficient numbers , their sewage will o verfl ow . See l evel difference in two blue circles in this drainage plan Near the ...

The below email was sent as a rebuttal to our press release . From: K Raheja Constructions <rahejac@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 1:30 PM Subject: Re: Kind Attn Mr Sandeep G Raheja: Draft Press Release about Horizon Green for your rebuttal To: Krishnaraj Rao <krish.kkphoto@gmail.com> Cc: unique <corporate@krahejahospitality.com>, City Office <city@krahejahospitality.com>, archana desai desai <kconstructionb@gmail.com>, "K.Raheja - Delhi" <delhi@krahejahospitality.com>, chandemd@gmail.com Mr. Krishnaraj Rao Subject:        Building Horizon Green at Borivali. Reference:    Your emails on 20-12-2016 & 22-12-2016. At the outset, it may be stated that by and large the statements made in your draft release are far from facts & ground reality.  The rebut para-wise is as follows. The levels mentioned in your first para of your draft as well as sketch furnished ther...

28 March 2016: An activist friend named Abbaas Naqvi (9892000098) wrote in October 2012 about BMC's modus operandi of defending illegal constructions. Abbaas wrote from his experiences in Malad P-North Ward of BMC/MCGM, where he and other activists (such as Shahnawaz Shaikh 9867768070) were trying to get municipal officials to take action against illegal constructions (especially TV studios) sprouting in the area. Activists are fighting an uphill battle against BMC officials who take undue advantage of their official position. People are losing hope because authorities take no action against errant officials, even when written complaints and evidences are submitted. Civic officials are defeating the town planning by abetting illegal constructions violating Development Control Regulations. No-Development zones are goldmines for officers dealing with unauthorized construction. Below, I am reproducing Abbaas‘ writings. As I am convinced that this is largely factual, I take full ...

Mumbai, 5th March, 2016: Last week, one of RNA builders' thousands of cheated flat-purchasers sent the builder a legal ultimatum, and started taking steps for going to court after discovering that their promised 17th floor flat in RNA Regal, a project in Kandivali West, is the proverbial pie-in-the-sky! In February 2011, Sandeep Kothari and Apeksha Khabiya, a non-resident couple based in Doha-Qatar, booked a spacious 17th floor flat in RNA Regal, based on the builder's promise that they would get possession within three years. The couple planned to return to India to live in this spacious 1365 sq. ft. dream house. After paying nearly Rs 30 lakhs up front as initial booking amount, the couple was kept in the dark by RNA Corp which fed them a steady diet of outright lies during the three-year waiting period. Every time the couple phoned RNA Corp, they were informed that the project was making satisfactory progress. In the end, the couple's rude awakening consisted of not on...

Mumbai, 25th  February, 2016: Common people rarely turn up in good numbers to openly speak out against powerful builders, and so it was an unusual sight that about 200 rich and poor persons aggrieved by RNA Corp (owned by late Anil Aggarwal, Gokul Aggarwal, Anubhav Aggarwal and Saranga Aggarwal) stage a roadside gathering near Versova, Andheri West, to speak out against RNA Builders. In this unusual gathering on the morning of Sunday, 21st  February, 2016, the well-to-do persons were aggrieved buyers who had booked flats in various RNA projects such as RNA Exotica in Oshiwara, and RNA Palazzo and RNA Grande in Kandivali. The poorer participants were those dishoused and dispossessed by RNA's SRA or MHADA redevelopment projects. Many in the gathering boldly voiced their grievances before a handheld video camera, knowing that every word that they said was being recorded for publishing in the public domain. A major chunk of the gathering, who had already formed associations for ...