The Enforcement Directorate (ED) late on August 1 arrested Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in Mumbai after over 15 hours of questioning. Raut was under the ED lens in a case relating to alleged irregularities in the Patra Chawl redevelopment project in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb.
Moneycontrol spoke to tenants in the area who said they are only concerned about the possession of their homes and unpaid rent. The tenants maintained that several reports by different investigating agencies have been filed, but their purpose can be fulfilled once they get a roof above their head and the amount for the unpaid rent for temporary accommodation.
What is Patra Chawl redevelopment?
Patra Chawl, in Siddarth Nagar area of Goregaon, a western suburb of Mumbai, went in for redevelopment in 2008. It had over 670 tenants and the housing units were spread across 47 acres. Patra Chawl was originally a barrack constructed by the British during the Second World War, and was used as a military camp.
The tenants lived in units of 265 sq ft area and had been promised a house of around 600 sq ft after redevelopment. After independence, the landlord of the chawl became the state housing authority, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). The people Moneycontrol spoke to say they had a lot of open space considering the area was huge enough to house over 670 tenants.
In 2008, MHADA took up the redevelopment project and appointed Guru Ashish Construction Private Limited (GACPL), a sister concern of real estate company Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), to rehabilitate over 670 tenants and to redevelop the locality.
A tripartite agreement was signed between GACPL, the tenants’ society and MHADA. Following this, the tenants moved out from the locality by 2010 but 14 years down the line, the tenants are yet to get their promised homes.
Why was Sanjay Raut arrested by ED?
The ED has maintained that Pravin Raut, said to be a close aide of Sanjay Raut, and other directors of GACPL did not build a single house for over 670 displaced tenants, but sold the floor space index (FSI, or the floor area a builder can construct on a particular plot) to other parties for over Rs 900 crore. (While FSI itself cannot be sold, it can be converted into certificates call transferable development rights that can be traded on the market.) The ED also alleged that GACPL, instead of constructing the houses for tenants first after selling the FSI, went on to launch a project named Meadows and took bookings from buyers of over Rs 100 crore. The ED has maintained wrongdoing of over Rs 1,000 crore.
Further, ED claims its investigations revealed that Pravin Raut diverted Rs 100 crore to various accounts of his close associates including family members, business entities and family members of Sanjay Raut.
However, in recent media interactions and even earlier, Sanjay Raut has maintained that there is no wrongdoing, and that he will prove his and his family’s innocence.
In 2017 an enquiry report submitted to the Maharashtra Housing Department had said that due to wrong calculations while charging premium, the developer benefited to the tune of Rs 414 crore.
The report had said that the developer got an additional seven acres for commercial use as the agreement was signed for 40 acres despite the redevelopment being only for 47 acres. The report had suggested action against the developer and the MHADA officials.
Possession and unpaid rent is our main concern, say tenants
Rahul Wagh, a tenant of Patra Chawl said, “There are a number of people who are guilty of this scam or wrongdoing. There has been a report of the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General), enquiry report of MHADA is there to reveal what went wrong in the redevelopment. However, what I am bothered about is the home that we were promised on the basis on which we have vacated since 2010.”
Wagh added, “I have not received any rent amount and today I have purchased a new house where I am paying heavy EMI for the home loan. I was around 40 years old back then and today I am 53, in this period many among the original tenants have died. It is clear that we have not benefited from the redevelopment. We are only concerned about getting possession for our house and unpaid rent amount.”
Another tenant, Rajesh Dalvi, president of Siddarth Nagar Co-operative Housing Society in Goregaon, said, “We were also called for questioning by the ED around five or six months ago and we have given our statement. I feel MHADA officials, a few of our society members and the developer are responsible for this whole mess.”
“Whatever is going on now is a power game. We are not concerned about arrests of anyone, but only about our rent and possession. I am paying 36,000 monthly rent for a 2.5 BHK apartment in Goregaon, and the developer had stopped paying rent to us since 2016. We are hopeful that the deadline set by MHADA now to construct our homes by October 2024 is met, and we get our dream homes,” added Dalvi.
The current status
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had in February 2022 virtually inaugurated the revived Patra Chawl redevelopment project.
File photo from the bhoomipujan conducted during restarting construction work of Patra Chawl redevelopment in February 2022. (Photo credits: MHADA)
MHADA has appointed a civil contractor through a tendering process, and it is expected that the construction will be completed by October 2024.
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