8,000 residents of 41 illegal buildings in Nalasopara get eviction notices
The plot on which the illegal buildings were constructed measures around 30 acres, spanning survey numbers 22 to 30 in Agarwal Nagar, Nalasopara East
MUMBAI: Around 8,000 residents of Jai Ambe Welfare Society in Achole in Nalasopara East face imminent homelessness, as the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) has decided to go ahead with the demolition of 41 illegal buildings in the society. Eviction notices have been issued to around 2,500 families.
“We have written letters on Friday to the police to provide protection and to MSEDCL to disconnect the electricity supply to the illegal buildings before the demolition drive starts,” said VVMC assistant municipal commissioner Mohan Sankhe.
On Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti issued an order stating that the authorities were at liberty to go ahead with the demolition of the illegal buildings but should explore the possibility of rehabilitation of the affected occupants. The feasibility of rehabilitation should be considered independent of the demolition, they said.
A day earlier, the Bombay high court had refused to grant any relief to the occupants, observing that the 41 illegal buildings were “wholly illegal and unauthorised” and constructed on land reserved for a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground. The court disposed of a petition filed by the builder to regularise the buildings, and VVMC officials said they would go ahead with the demolition for which they had set a September 30 deadline.
The Aagri Sena, a political party, has attempted to reassure the fearful residents that it will take up the rehab issue, as has an NGO called Hindavi Swarajya Pratishthan (HSP). “The builders have cheated thousands of people,” said Fahim Khan from HSP. “Several residents are daily wagers below the poverty line. If they are evicted, they will have to stay on the road.” Khan said the NGO would meet VVMC officers on Tuesday and try to work out rehabilitation for the residents.
The plot on which the illegal buildings were constructed measures around 30 acres, spanning survey numbers 22 to 30 in Agarwal Nagar, Nalasopara East. Some of the land is privately owned. Sitaram Gupta, a former corporator of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) party in the Vasai-Virar region, and his son Arun Gupta, began constructing the buildings on the land in 2006 without obtaining a construction permit or occupancy certificate later. The structures were deemed unauthorised, and between 2010 and 2012, a few were demolished.
Gupta was arrested by the Achole police in September 2022. He was accused of land-grabbing and constructing the 41 illegal buildings. Gupta had allegedly produced a bogus completion certificate for one of the buildings from CIDCO and VVMC.
An FIR against Gupta and his associate Vijay Tambat, alias Vijay Salvi, was filed in June 2023 by the municipal corporation. Both were declared absconding and were charged under Sections 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 474 (having possession of a forged document), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.