Jungle rule has driven home, finally. Residents of 19 housing complexes on Ghodbunder Road and nearby areas in Thane have recently got to know that the land on which they live is private forest land. Flat owners are in a catch-22 situation: they can neither sell their properties, nor rent them out.
Following a public interest petition by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) in June 2005, the Bombay High Court ordered the Chief Secretary to register the 7/12 extracts (documents which show the names of the owners of a piece of property) of all lands acquired by the forest department as private forest land. Subsequently, the state stalled the registration of the concerned properties developed on Ghodbunder Road.
Harried residents are asking how the projects got clearance from the civic bodies.
"When I bought a flat in this complex (Madisson Housing Society, Hiranandani Estate), we were shown the complete building plan, including a no-objection certificate from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC)," says AD Prasad, a resident. "We have been paying property tax to the TMC for the last six years. Now we come to know that the land on which our complex is built is forest land.
This is ludicrous!"
Rajendra Bhatt, a resident of Apollo Housing Society in the same complex, says: "We have sent several letters to the builder (Hiranandani Constructions) asking him to explain the issue, but there has been no reply. Neither have we received any notification from the court or TMC.
"
However, Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director, Hiranandani Constructions, tells DNA: "Our buildings have not been constructed on forest land. We have not corresponded with the residents so far because we are waiting for the matter to get cleared - we have filed an application in the high court. Also, I was not in town.
"
Real estate agents say the matter may get resolved in favour of the residents. Says Bharat Malik, an agent, "The Runwall property in Mulund had run into a similar situation, but the matter got cleared recently. The Ghodbunder Road problem may also get resolved soon.
"
But residents are not optimistic; some are caught midway in property transactions. "I have paid the token amount for a bigger flat in a nearby society. The prospective buyer of the flat where I am staying at present too has paid me the token.
Now none of us can proceed further as registrations have been stopped," says A Dogra, a resident of Princeton Housing Society, Hiranandani Estate.
Suresh Kamble (name changed on request), a resident of Vijay Enclave, says: "What was the TMC and forest department doing when construction on this land started a decade ago? Should not they be accountable?
"
The forest department could not prevent constructions on this stretch of land because at that time its classification according to 7/12 extract had not been done, says RB Ghatge, range forest officer, Thane. "But the department in 1957 and 1959 had issued notices to people who owned lands in the stretch telling them that their properties were private forest land. However, they sold the lands without informing the buyers about the notices.
"
Suhas Samant, an executive engineer at TMC's town planning department, explains why the civic body cleared the property development projects along Ghodbunder Road. "The classification of the stretch as private forest land in the 7/12 extracts was done recently (May 2006, following the high court order). Since the extracts in their original form did not include this classification, the Thane collectorate and the municipal corporation issued clearances to the projects.
News RSS