Mumbai: At Cuffe Parade, Rs 25 lakh ocean homes!

An illegally reclaimed area of around 100acres between Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade has been gradually encroached on by the slum mafias over the past few decades This encroachment gained momentum during the lockdown when the mafias expanded their business by creating multistorey slums In a note of concern this area near Badhwar Park jetty is where Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab entered the city for the 2611 Mumbai terror attacksLocals claim to have lodged hundreds of complaints with the Collector regarding the illegal reclamation and encroachment The Cuffe Parade Residentsrsquo Association CPRA many individual residents and locals have complained since 1997 but ldquono action has been taken till daterdquo they allegeAlso read Mumbai Seafacing is passe illegal homes come up in waterThe vicepresident of CPRA Mohit Chaturvedi told midday the mafias have encroached on the land sea and sky He said ldquoThey slum mafias have not only illegally reclaimed land from the sea but also mushroomed on the land and turned their one room houses into multistorey buildings There are daily excavations in the sea near Cuffe Parade opposite Badhwar Park and they seem to be for the construction of unauthorised hutments and shantiesrdquoFormer Secretary General of CPRA Padmakar Nandekar said ldquoI have submitted more than 100 complaints to the Collector of Mumbai but no action has been taken against the slum mafias The slum mafias illegally reclaimed land from the sea before building rooms The shanties mushroomed during lockdownrdquolsquoA nocturnal activityrsquoNandekar further told midday ldquoThe mafias become super active at night Above all the construction materials including sand cement bricks asbestos sheets rods etc are carried to the construction site when there is a high tide The slum mafias and local goons under the garb of local fishermen have encroached upon the garden area whose sub plot numbers are 101 102 103 104 in the Development Plan of Mumbai valid till 2023rdquoLocals claim they have been complaining about the illegal reclamation and encroachment since the 1990sldquoThe slum mafias bring the construction materials in their trucks and it is further carried on boats or hathgaadi The landing points for these mafias are the Fire Brigade station near Nariman Point and Captain Prakash Pethe Marg behind CPRA Gardenrdquo he addedThe executive committee member of CPRA and incharge of the Bay View Marina Garden Parul Nandekar said ldquoWe created a beautiful garden on the collectorrsquos land and avoided the encroachment on 7acre land where we planted 16000 trees The slum goons have their eyes on this garden also and temporary structures have been created but the collector is not taking action against the illegal activitiesrdquolsquoHighly profitable businessrsquoThe residential space in Cuffe Parade is one of the costliest in the world as the price of 1 sqft of land varies between Rs 60000 and Rs 120 lakh ldquoAfter bribing the local administration it costs around Rs 5 lakh to construct a 500 sqft room in the area and the mafias sell it for Rs 25 lakh So itrsquos a highly profitable business The owners further furnish the room of even 100 sqft to rent it out for Rs 10000 per monthrdquo said Nandekar who is also the secretary of Jalkiran building in Cuffe Parade Nandekar further added that in a bid to create pillars in the sea ldquothe slum mafias use special quality cement which is used in making sea linksrdquoChaturvedi said ldquoWe have noticed that in Machimaar Nagar and Shiv Shastri Nagar there has been rampant and frenetic illegal construction activity in the past one year but more so in the past 812 weeks from March There are now suddenly fourstorey cement structures being constructed like flats with facilities and amenities like air conditioning and the worksrdquoldquoThis can cause a grave threat to Mumbai as we have seen in the past such as the terrorist attacks We are extremely concerned about the safety of our residents and the citizens of Mumbai Such illegal constructions are not only in violation of the CRZ but most importantly hazardous to the environment These illegal constructions also harm the mangroves guarding the coast and can have an impact on Cuffe Parade and the city of Mumbai before we know itrdquo Chaturvedi saidHe also pointed that Cuffe Parade has heavy traffic all the time which has substantially increased due to the space captured by these illegal shops and establishments including the garagesOfficials busy and unawareWhen midday contacted Collector Rajeev Nivatkar regarding the issue he said ldquoI am busy in a meeting with the chief ministerrdquo Additional Collector Anita Meshram Wankhede said ldquoI have joined the office hardly six months ago So I have no idea if any complaint has been made to the Collector office I need to check and let you knowrdquo