Curation Team
PUNE: Sarvodaya Cooperative Housing Society in Mundhwa has allegedly been wrongly included as a slum proposed for rehabilitation in the development plan (DP) of 2017, said a group of residents who have raised objection to the matter which crushes their status and threatens their dwellings.
The residents claimed their housing society land was shown as part of the adjacent slum and many of them were falsely listed as slum dwellers, so that two acres and 25 guntha of the society’s land come under the slum rehabilitation authority (SRA).
A complaint has been raised with the SRA and officials said the matter will be investigated, if needed.
Local residents said the society is one of the 52 settlements in India established as separate settlements by the British for communities affected by the Criminal Act of 1872. In 1948, after independence, the then Bombay govt quashed the ignominy and declared it as the Mundhwa Settlement Rehabilitation Area. At present, the total seven acre land is divided into three parts. It includes a slum, Sarvodaya Society comprising standalone houses and there is govt land. However, the 2017 DP shows the entire area as a slum.
Society resident Balkrishna Jadhav, who raised a complaint with the SRA, said, “The authorities concerned should not notify our society as a slum. In fact, we were in the dark about our plot being proposed for an SRA project. I sought documents under RTI regarding what survey was held and parameters used to include our society land as a slum in the DP. The authorities concerned could not provide any details.”
In the complaint on Aug 20, Jadhav said the beneficiary list was inflated to get approval for the SRA proposal. People who are not even residents have been included, as also minors born after 2008. He said the society was formed decades ago and had approved around 2,500 sqft area for each member. The layout approved by the civic body shows society members have houses constructed on around 1,225-1,250 sqft. “We will get a 350 sqft house if the SRA proposal is approved. The whole thing is unjust,” Jadhav added.
Resident Kalpak Salunke said, “SRA and Pune Municipal Corporation should investigate our complaint. We should get back the status of a separate society and not be part of slums, which is not an identity we accept.”
Chairman of the society Shankar Gaikwad said, “Members are discussing the matter with various authorities. We will hold joint meetings to decide a future course of action.”
SRA CEO Satish Khadke told TOI: “Details of the complaint will be studied. We shall decide what to do accordingly.”
