KDMC lists builders involved in illegal constructions on its website

The civic body has appealed to homebuyers not to purchase property sold by these developers.

The Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) has listed more than 190 developers from the city who were involved in illegal constructions on its website. The civic body has appealed to homebuyers not to purchase property sold by these developers.

The civic body razed 25% of Balaji Complex at Nandivli on May 8. It affected 70 families. (HT Photo)

The move comes almost three weeks after 70 families who were living in a Dombivli apartment complex were affected after the KDMC razed nearly a quarter of the buildings, saying the project was illegal. The families said the civic body had failed them by not issuing notices about the builder in advance and should put up lists of builders who need to be avoided.

“We have put up the names of those developers who are involved in illegal constructions. This has been done to ensure homebuyers stay away from these offenders,” said Govind Bodke, commissioner of KDMC.

Currently, the civic body has uploaded a list of such offenders only from four of its wards and plans to do so for the rest soon. You can access the lists by visiting www.kdmc.in and clicking on ‘Controller of Unauthorized Construction Department’ under the ‘Departments’ tab.

A resident of Balaji Complex at Nandivli — which the KDMC started razing on May 8 — said the civic body’s move was welcome. “It will definitely help homebuyers avoid illegal builders. The civic body should not delay putting up the list of the entire KDMC area,” the resident said.

Other residents, however, demanded the civic body publicise this list through various mediums and also send notices to the banks that sanctioned loans to these developers.

“The civic body acts against an illegal building only after its construction is completed and people start living in it. Before that, they just serve notices which are of no use, ” said Amit Tandon, 36, a resident of Milap Nagar, Dombivli (East). “The civic body should put up banners with the names of these developers, and publicise it on social media as well.”

Riya D’souza, 28, a resident of Khadakpada in Kalyan (West), said the list should also be sent to each bank which provided loans to builders. “This would be more effective than just publishing the list online,” she said.

The KDMC, so far, has produced a complete list of illegal builders only for the 9I ward, comprising 27 villages which were earlier under the gram panchayat. The list of 193 developers includes those who have built projects in some of the villages such as Adivali–Dhokili, Pisavli, Vasargaon, Chinchpada, Golivali, Daudi, Ashele, Dwarli and Nandivli.

“A majority of these illegal buildings are either four storeys tall or have 10 rooms in a row. The list was prepared based on the directions from the state government earlier this month,” said officer of ward 9I, requesting anonymity.

According to local activist Kaustub Gokhale, the villages within this ward had more than 79,000 unverified structures when it came under the KDMC in 2015. “Former municipal commissioner E Ravendiran asked people not to buy property here. The number of illegal structures has now gone up to 1 lakh,” said Gokhale.

The civic body’s latest move, Gokhale said, will not be of much help as most buyers are unaware of it. “The civic body should verify all the structures in its vicinity and speed the action against them. Also, there is a need to stop the construction at the beginning,” he said.

According to replies obtained by Gokhale through right-to-information (RTI) queries, the number of illegal structures in Kalyan-Dombivli goes up by an average of 5,000 every year. In the last 12 years alone, a total of 60,000 structures have come up in the twin cities.

According to data obtained by Gokhale, 1.21 lakh structures out of the total 2.66 lakh in Kalyan-Dombivli are classified illegal.