Buildings first converted into a shelter for migrants and then into quarantine center; beneficiaries say rent not paid in 7 months, the builder says all payments made till March.
MUMBAI: From finding their newly-constructed Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) flats in Mulund turned into shelters for stranded migrant labourers and then into a quarantine centre for high-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients, 450 families have been left to fend for themselves for the past four months.
The families have accused the builder of skipping out on payment of their transit rents since January— which the developer has disputed— and there is no word on when they will be allowed to move into their homes.
Aashirwad and Siddharth Nagar SRA Societies in Bhimwadi were taken up for redevelopment by Riddhi Siddhi Corporation 11 years ago under the SRA’s slum rehabilitation scheme, and all 450 flats were ready by March this year.
No sooner was the occupancy certificate approved than the lockdown came into force. That same month, the suburban collector converted the buildings into a transit shelter for migrant labourers amid a countrywide mass exodus.
“In May, the BMC took over the buildings to set up a quarantine centre for high-risk contacts of nearby slumdwellers,” said local BJP MLA Mihir Kotecha. Of the 450 flats, 70 are currently occupied by around 160 people under quarantine.
The takeover was part of the BMC’s mega Covid-19 preparation plan as cases continued to soar. Many agencies turned over vacant housing projects to the civic body to be used as quarantine or isolation centres; the SRA handed over 2,080 housing units in May.
Harish Vaghela, one of the flat owners, said a number of the SRA project’s beneficiaries have not been able to make their rental payments since January, when the builder, he claimed, abandoned them.
