15 May,2011 09:19 AM IST | | Rinkita Gurav
A second floor flat in a Chowpatty building that's been locked for 14 years has made repair impossible; MHADA officials say the building is no longer fit for habitation
On Wednesday, the Mumbai Housing and Development Authority (MHADA) will begin repair work on the dilapidated rear wing of Mahaynoos Casbah building at Chowpatty. However, they don't hope to achieve much.
MHADA officials and Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) claim they have not been allowed to carry out repair work since 2008 on account of a long battle with uncooperative tenants of two wings of the building (also referred to as Baig Mohammad Mansion) and Khurshid Irani, the owner of the building. The bone of contention is a plush 2,500 sq ft flat on the second floor of the rear wing of the building, which has been locked all this while.
Rusted iron beams and a leaking draining system have eroded the rear
wing of the building, and repair work has been made impossible because
a flat on the second floor has been locked for 14 years (encircled).
MHADA official state that residents have disallowed them from carrying
out pre-monsoon repair work since 2008. Pic/ Atul Kamble
MHADA authorities claim they have not been able to carry out pre-monsoon repair work since it has been locked over the years. Officials now say the building may have become unfit for habitation for residents of the same wing. Rusted iron beams and a leaking draining system have eroded the structure, and residents in this century-old, ground plus three-floor building fear for their life, because it has been declared 'unsafe to live'.
Officials had arranged for a joint inspection on several occasions, but tenants from other wings did not allow them to proceed under the pretext that they did not have a No Objection Certificate (NOC) with reimbursement proposal. The MHADA deputy engineer and the appointed agency for repairing the building had gone to inspect the place on January 18, 2011, but tenants humiliated them, states a MHADA letter (dated February 2, 2011) addressed to the tenants.
The case came to light through a series of letters from the MHADA to Mahaynoos Casbah residents, warning them that the state of rear wing of the building was not good due to the second floor lying vacant for 14 years without any repair work. MBRRB further states that it has been trying to execute structural repair work since November 2008, but hasn't been able to because Irani and the other tenants didn't allow them to. The Mahaynoos Casbah is nearly a 100 year-old structure, claim the tenants.
A third-floor tenant said, "We had seen the second floor when MHADA had come for inspection, and it was in a really bad condition. There was debris everywhere." The resident further added that they do not know who the flat belongs to, but Irani doesn't allow anyone to enter it, calling it disputed property.
Inconvenience to residents
Kareem Patel, a second floor resident in the opposite wing said, "Rats have been entering my house from the passage between the two wings. We refrain from opening the windows because of pigeons that throng the second floor flat." Patel, who has lived in the building since his birth, has been writing letters to MHADA to begin work but in vain, he says.
MBRRB mentions in a second letter that it appointed a certain Salim A Khan to remove the loose plaster of the rear side encased columns to avoid any untoward incidents, but Irani did not allow the agency to execute the work. This, the letter says, is a serious matter, because if any untoward incident occurred, she will be held responsible.
In a fresh report (dated May 10, 2011) on the building's condition, the deputy engineer and the Board's architects' representative Magalal Patidar observed that the flooring of third floor resident Sudhakar Gupta's flat is dilapidated, but the ceiling of the second floor (which forms the floor of Gupta's house) could not be inspected due to a lock on the main door.
A MHADA official said on condition of anonymity, "Khurshid Irani who is the so-called owner of the property, says half of the second floor is in custody of the High Court, so she doesn't have access to the flat. But she didn't furnish any documents to verify that." MHADA executive engineer, D3 zone, N Gadkari, agrees.
Speaking to Sunday MiD DAY, he said, "We have been trying to carry out repair work for three years. The rear wing is in a bad state. The people living in the frontal two wings do not want any inconvenience, so we have not got the required 70 per cent approval from tenants. On May 18, we will take action along with the police by breaking the lock of the door to start work."
When SMD tried to contact Irani, she was out of town. A relative, who did not identify himself, refused to comment on the matter, saying, "We cannot comment on anything related to the building or her."
