Weekend homes of city’s swish set face demolition threat

Weekend homes of city’s swish set face demolition threat
Alibaug, Murud tehsildars go after sea-facing properties

Notices issued for coastal regulation violations; bungalow owners protest what they say is arbitrary government action.

Sea-facing bungalows of Mumbai’s rich and famous in Alibaug and Murud have been served notices by the local administrations for coastal regulation zone and MRTP Act violations, causing a flutter in the city’s swish set.

Among those who have been served notices are Noel Tata, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, Alyque Padamsee, Zenia Lawyer, Manmohan Shetty, and Urmila Dorab Talyarkhan.

The action, which follows an assurance by the state government to this effect in the legislature during the Budget session, has been followed up in many cases with FIRs registered against bungalow owners at the local police stations. So far, 130 FIRs have been registered in Alibaug alone.

Alibaug is one of the most popular weekend getaways for Mumbai’s well-heeled. Just half-anhour’s ride by a speedboat and around an hour by a ferry, a lot of south Mumbai’s rich families have their second homes here.

The serving of the notices started in May and the tehsildars in Alibaug and Murud have been working overtime ever since to investigate cases and register FIRs. The last FIR was registered on June 21 against three bungalow owners.

Sub-divisional officer, Alibaug division, Deepak Kshirsagar said the notices are mainly being issued under the Environment Protection Act (for violation of CRZ) and the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act.

Alibaug tehsildar Prashant Sankpal said the process of demolition of these bungalow will start soon. He said that while bungalow owners have delivered boxes full of documents to his office, only two or three properties have all the papers in place. “We will be proceeding against the rest,” he said.

What has surprised the bungalow owners is the abruptness of the notices. “We have been here for many years. Nobody gave us any idea that our houses could be illegal. Now suddenly, notices are raining,” said the owner of a bungalow in Murud.

As a result of the notices, the sleepy tehsildar’s offices and police stations in and around Alibaug are buzzing. “I have never seen some many in the telsildar’s office in my entire life,” said a local villager.

Another bungalow owner, who too did not want to be identified, said: “This is the second time that I have been served a notice. Previously, my lawyers fought the matter in a court eight years ago to prove that my bungalow was built much before the CRZ regulations came into force and was purchased by me under a clear title agreement.” He said he has not made a single change to the house after buying it. “What I don’t understand is why does the government wake up after structures come up. They are never to be seen during construction,” he said.

State Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam told Mirror: “I had stated in the assembly earlier that action will be taken against structures violating the Coastal Regulation Zone rules. Four days back, I took a meeting of collectors from Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg and told them to take action against such structures without any fear. The collector-Raigad, Sheetal Ugale, has done an excellent job. I have told all officers that structures violating CRZ constructed by outsiders should be demolished.”

BUNGALOW OWNERS WHO HAVE BEEN SERVED NOTICES

Noel Tata (Kashid), Sangita Nirmal Bang (Kashid), Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry (Kashid), Zenia Lawyer (Kashid), Aspi Chinoy (Nandgaon), Nandini Hiten Khatau (Kashid), Nauzer Baldawala (Nandgaon), Nauzer Wadia (Kashid), Manmohan Shetty (Barshiv), Subhash Runwal (Barshiv), Anosh Shroff (Barshiv), Jyoti Bharat Sheth (Nagaon), Navin Agarwal (Navedar-Navgaon), Mahendra Kishore Khatau (Nagaon), Urmila Dorab Talyarkhan (Akshi), Ajay Gopikishan Piramal (Akshi), B D Nariman (Varsoli), Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan (Indra Pai), Alyque Padamsee (Awas).