Blame game on between TMC, forest dept

The devastating building collapse at Mumbra is now mired in a blame game between the Thane municipal corporation (TMC) and the forest department over ownership of the land. On Friday, certain sections of the TMC had claimed the builder had encroached on notified forest land. Nikhil Ghanekar reports.

The devastating building collapse at Mumbra is now mired in a blame game between the Thane municipal corporation (TMC) and the forest department over ownership of the land. On Friday, certain sections of the TMC had claimed the builder had encroached on notified forest land.

However, on Saturday, the forest department in a meeting with the Thane collector and city municipal commissioner submitted documents that showed the building was built on land reserved for tribals.

"We surveyed the spot on Friday and Saturday and sent a report to the state forest ministry apprising them of land title details," said GT Chavan, deputy conservator of forest, territorial division, Thane range.

"We have decided to check the Taluka inspector land record (TILR) survey too and possibly a new TILR survey would be carried out. A 2003 TILR survey though does point out that the plot where the illegal building stood, was tribal land," he said.