‘We want our homes, not politics’, say displaced families of Mumbai’s ‘scam-hit’ Patra Chawl

14 yrs on, 672 tenants still wait for flats that were promised to them. The ED, which is probing alleged irregularities in redevelopment project, arrested Sena's Sanjay Raut Sunday.

Sandesh Shirodkar and his family share old photographs of their house at Patra Chawl | Purva Chitnis | ThePrint

Mumbai: Incomplete structures overrun by thick bushes dot the 47-acre plot fenced by metal sheets in Mumbai’s Goregaon. After nearly 14 years in limbo, Patra Chawl is the picture of broken dreams, especially for the 672 families who had shifted out on the promise of getting new flats under a 2008 revelopment project.

The news of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut‘s arrest — in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation of alleged financial irregularities in the project — is of little significance to these middle-class families. “Build our houses at the earliest”, is their overriding demand.

“People’s condition is really bad. But despite that, politics is happening at our cost. We are not interested in the politics surrounding it (the Patra Chawl case). What we want is our transit rent and then homes, as mandated by the tripartite agreement,” Pankaj Dalvi, a member of the Patra Chawl housing committee, tells ThePrint.

In 2008, Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GACPL), the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), and the Patra Chawl housing committee had entered into an agreement to redevelop the British-era tenements. GACPL was to develop flats for the 672 families and sell the remaining portion of the plot to prospective buyers.

Struggles of chawl residents

Sandesh Shirodkar lives with his family in a rental society about a kilometre away from Patra Chawl. Sharing old photographs with ThePrint, he recalls: “I had a nice garden with chickoo and coconut trees, some of which my family had planted, in my front yard.”

All of it is gone now, he adds. The house in which Shirodkar was born and raised was demolished for redevelopment. His daughter, who is now 25, was born in the same house.

Patra Chawl in Mumbai’s Goregaon | Purva Chitnis | ThePrint

“We left the house sometime in 2008-09. My mother died after prolonged illness in 2010. My father passed away a couple of years later while he waited for the new house,” says the retired private employee.

For now, the pressing issue confronting Shirodkar and many other fellow residents is the non-payment of transit rent. The affected families claim that transfers of the transit rent became irregular after 2014-15, before they completely stopped in 2018.

Currently, Shirodkar is paying Rs 18,500 rent on a monthly basis. In contrast, he draws a monthly pension of Rs 4,000. “It is difficult to sustain. My wife has arthritis and diabetes, she needs medicines. I can’t run the house with my pension. All I want is the transit rent,” says the 61-year-old.

Dalvi says that construction work has begun, but the transit rent is yet to be restored. He adds that according to the agreement, rent was fixed at Rs 18,000 per month in 2008 and it went up to Rs 40,000 over the years.

“Around 2018, the rent completely stopped. MHADA has now proposed to give Rs 18,000 in transit rent. But what will happen with that amount? Rent is Rs 30,000 and upwards. As families can’t afford this rent, many have shifted to Virar, Vasai, Palghar, and other places,” he claims.

Four to five generations of his family lived in Patra Chawl, Dalvi tells ThePrint.

On 22 February, the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government had restarted the construction work at Patra Chawl. “Just 12 days before the bhumi-pujan, my mother passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer and in the last 3-4 months, she had just one question — ‘When will I get my home?’” Dalvi recalls.

“She was concerned whether we will get the redeveloped home or not. We showed her old photographs of construction work to assure her that work had begun so that she could die in peace,” adds the Patra Chawl housing committee member.

Ramakant Thorve, whose family lived in Patra Chawl for 70 years, says the struggles are unending. “During lockdown, I liquidated my insurance policy which was to come into effect after my death. But if I am unable to provide for my family while I am still alive, what good is that policy for?” he asks.

Thorve says he even had to sell his wife’s ornaments to make ends meet.

“Nearly all of us. Some have left the city and live in peripheral areas like Palghar, while others moved to their villages for good during the lockdown. Some can’t afford the education of their children and medical expenses,” says the father of two.

His parents live in their village near Pune because he won’t be able to provide for a family of six, Thorve claims.

While the Enforcement Directorate claims that the GACPL defrauded the society, the residents also allege that previous members of the housing committee conspired with the builder and MHADA officials.

The affected families, meanwhile, still harbour the hope of getting their homes. “I have seen 4-5 bhumi pujans for the project, so far. Hopefully the one that happened in February is the last and the construction will be completed within 2 years as promised by MHADA,” says Dalvi.

Thorve, too, echoes the same sentiment. “Home is a dream for any middle-class person. My parents are still waiting for that dream to be fulfilled,” he says.

(Edited by Tony Rai)