E-Paper
Refuge area turned into office at Ganga Satellite society, PMC, fire department issue notices
The society office bearers of Ganga Satellite, Wanowrie have turned a blind eye to repeated notices against illegally turning the refuge area in C2 building of the society into an office
The society office bearers of Ganga Satellite, Wanowrie have turned a blind eye to repeated notices against illegally turning the refuge area in C2 building of the society into an office.
Yezdi Motiwalla, a 60-year-old resident of Ganga Satellite, Wanowrie, approached the authorities on April 29 when he along with three members objected to the refuge area being used as an office, a party hall. The refuge area has a working toilet, and a kitchen has also been constructed. The space is is used as a storage space for furniture and it is under lock and key 24x7.
It was during the annual general body meeting held on November 1, 2020, that Yezdi Motiwalla, Mariam Lakdawalla, Arun Mahajan and Marut Jain expressed their disapproval on the expenditure on the refurbishment of the refuge area.
“We did not pass ₹5, 65,000 being spent on refuge area and I lodged a complaint with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) who duly sent an engineer from the building control department on April 8, 2021, on site. Even the fire department visited the site on April 10, 2021, and now in spite of issuing legal notices for demolition, the chairman is refusing to do anything,” said Motiwalla.
“The refuge area in a building is to be kept open and vacant and is meant to be a meeting point for evacuation in an emergency situation when a fire breaks out. According to state guidelines and the fire department, no construction or conversion of the refuge area into anything else is permitted,” said chief fire officer Prashant Ranpise, who added that if the society does not demolish it, then the fire brigade will take legal action and cut the water and electricity supply to the society.
“It is the society’s responsibility to remove the illegal structure in the refuge area and we have served them the notice,” he said.
“It is illegal to turn the refuge area into any other space, especially when you have senior citizens also in the society, this refuge area is to help during any kind of disaster, but it is being kept under lock and key and turned into a party place. What good is it to people when it is needed?” said Motiwalla.
The society chairman and secretary were issued the notices by the fire department on April 22 and by the PMC on April 26.
The society chairman, Hiten Talati, refuted the notice and said, “We have replied to the notices from PMC and fire department, and I have nothing further to add.”
PMC building department, executive engineer Harshada Shinde said, “We have given them 30 days to demolish the illegal construction in the refuge area, if they do not follow then we will take action along with police, but since it is Covid, and police are busy with bandobast, we are waiting to get the police personnel for the necessary action.”
