MUMBAI: MMRDA has sought eviction of illegal occupants of 1,336 tenements in two buildings in Kurla meant for transit accommodation for slumdwellers on airport land.
The notices were issued to the resolution professional of HDIL, a developer from the city facing insolvency proceedings, to hand over the 1,336 residential units and 50 commercial units in two buildings of Premier Compound in Kurla.
MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) also sought more than Rs 35 crore in rental arrears with GST within a month.
MMRDA asked the police to provide protection from Oct 7 to 10 to evict the illegal occupants in building numbers 5 and 6, which were allotted to HDIL 9 years ago. Residents alleged the tenements were illegally handed over by HDIL to ineligible people.
Illegal occupants found in Kurla buildings in 2021
The MMRDA has asked HDIL to hand over to ti 1,336 residential units in two buildings in Premier Compound in Kurla.
HDIL constructed 30 buildings in Premier Compound under the slum rehabilitation scheme in 2009 as transit accommodation for Bharat Nagar residents and slum families near the airport who were eligible for rehabilitation.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) had signed an agreement with the MMRDA in Dec 2006 to facilitate the rehabilitation of slums on airport land. In 2007, HDIL received a letter of intent from MIAL for resettlement and rehabilitation of airport slums.
In 2021, after the MMRDA was appointed the competent authority and special planning authority for the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Notified Area, the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) transferred these buildings to the MMRDA.
Atri-party agreement existed among SRA, HDIL, and MIAL, and flats in building numbers 5 and 6 were given on temporary lease to PAPs.
The Sarang Wadhawan promoted HDIL has been facing corporate insolvency resolution proceedings (CIRP) under the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code 2019.
“The lease agreement was only for three years and they were to pay Rs 8,000 for each unit. HDIL defaulted on the payment. There was no renewal of the agreement and this went on till 2021,” advocate Yusuf Khan said.
In 2021, when the SRA handed over these buildings to the MMRDA, it was discovered that there were illegal occupants and trespassers in these flats.
“The original allottees were missing, and it was found that someone else was staying in their names. We wrote to the authorities at MMRDA and the police to register an offence against those illegal occupants and investigate how they took over these flats meant for PAP,” Imran Khan, alocal activist, said.
Javed Sayyed, who lives in one of the buildings, said he took the place on rental basis by handing over Rs 5 lakh to agents, and like him many of them were living there.
“Now if the MMDRA evicts us how will we get back the deposit as most have taken the rooms on rental basis without any documentations?” he said.
