Sion society’s 12 years wait for compound wall continues

The society’s residents claim that for the last 12 years they have had to nail tin sheets to the building’s walls to stop people from trespassing into the society. They added that without a compound wall, they have had to park their vehicles outside the society’s premises

Mumbai: Residents of a housing society in Sion’s Pratiksha Nagar have run from pillar to post for the past 12 years, trying to get compound walls erected around their buildings. Despite the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) directing a contractor in July to construct the compound wall, a nearby slum rehabilitation project has stalled the process.

Sion society’s 12 years wait for compound wall continues

The Chaitanya Cooperative Housing Society in Pratiksha Nagar has 112 flats and four shops. Mhada’s Mumbai board had conducted a lottery in 2011 and handed over the flats in the housing society to its new homeowners in 2013. Since then, society members have been following up with Mhada officials regarding the missing compound walls.

One of the managing committee members of the society, Kiran Patel, said, “From the time we have raised the issue, we have had three managing committees (of the society) and several Mhada officials also have been transferred.” He said that many of the society’s members had met several government officials of varying ranks, hoping to get themselves heard. “The back-and-forth never ceased. Finally, in July we got an order in our favour and are grateful to deputy chief engineer Anil Akalgi and executive engineer Ankit Mose for finally ordering the construction of the compound wall.”

In July, on behalf of Mhada’s Mumbai board, Mose wrote a letter to BG Shirke Construction, a private contractor, explaining the situation. The board said that the building’s compound wall was yet to be constructed, and that the residents had complained many times that the incomplete construction compromised the security of the society.

On Saturday, the Mhada appointed contractor came to demarcate the area for constructing the compound wall. On Tuesday morning, the contractor returned with his team, but was not allowed to complete the pre-construction work by slum dwellers surrounding the area who claimed that the land belonged to them.

Right behind the housing society, a slum redevelopment began earlier this year. Since then, there have been issues between the developer carrying out the redevelopment, the slum dwellers, and the society residents. The slum dwellers have claimed the compound space belongs to them, and erecting a compound wall there would block their access to the road.

The society’s residents are worried the developer is trying to include the society’s compound area into the redevelopment project, taking away what rightfully belongs to the society. In Mhada’s July letter to the contractor, the authority mentioned this complication and directed the civil contractor to arrange police protection to carry out the construction.

The society’s residents claim that for the last 12 years they have had to nail tin sheets to the building’s walls to stop people from trespassing into the society. They added that without a compound wall, they have had to park their vehicles outside the society’s premises.

“After today’s development, our struggle for the compound wall continues,” said Vinayak Adep, secretary of the housing society. “Apart from the safety issue, we also fear that our D wing’s pillars that are exposed to the slums will get further damaged during the construction activity and movement of heavy vehicles,” he added.

The Mhada Mumbai board’s vice chairman and chief officer Milind Borikar did not respond to queries about what measures the authority plans to take and when the boundary wall’s construction will begin.