Mumbai: 15 years on, Gudi Padwa brings promise of new home

For 36 families of Mithanagar Archana CoOperative Housing society in Goregaon west this Gudhi Padwa came with a key to happiness as they will soon get possession of their flats after a long wait of almost 15 yearsMany members old residents and new purchasers visited their flats to perform pooja on the auspicious day of Gudhi Padwa the Maharashtrian New Year on Wednesday The Asmi group of companies handed over the flat keys to these families for the same and will be giving fit out possession of flats to every resident tenant and new buyer on March 30mdashRam NavamiThe saga of the society began in 2008 when it entered into a redevelopment agreement with Dhanashree developers The 36 original families vacated their flats in the ground plus twostorey building which was pulled down the same year But nearly three years after demolition the redevelopment came to a halt and from 2014 the developer stopped paying rent to themAlso Read Mumbai Now BMC issues showcase notice to Sun Beach ResortAmrut Jainrsquos family performs pooja on Gudhi Padwa in their new house in the buildingWith no hope of work restarting and getting their houses back in 2018 the society members cancelled their development agreement with the developer and started looking for a new builder who could complete their projectIn 2017 Asmi group of companies a real estate firm handed over possession of Ekta Suprabhatmdasha project which was stuck for over a decade as its earlier developer had failed to complete itmdashto residents The project then was the talking point in Goregaon as the developer had entered a redevelopment project midway and completed the construction workA ray of hopeA year later in 2018 the Mithanagar Archana CoOperative society approached Asmi group of companies requesting officials to take on their project and complete it Rishab Jain secretary of the society said ldquoWhen redevelopment started members were happy with the hope of getting bigger and new flats But this came to an end as redevelopment work came to a haltSuch is the delay that of 36 families eagerly waiting to enter their new redeveloped homes 12 members including my father Manilal Jain passed away before seeing their dream come truerdquo This year on Gudhi Padwa many members visited the building to see their new houses In fact many of them met their neighbours for the first time after over 14 yearsJinal Chhadwa a resident said ldquoI was in Std XII when we shifted to a rented place after the society went for redevelopment Today I am married and my child is in Std I when I will enter the new houserdquoResidents celebrate Gudhi Padwa and their new housesAjay Dedhia founder and promoter of Asmi group of companies told midday that the project was a very small one with two wings of eight floors of which six were already built ldquoThe project was at such a stage that it was not viable But during one of the meetings with original society members and new proposed buyers I felt that I should take it on though it might not be a profitable venture My team and I did the calculations We worked out a sum which would not make any profit for us but if agreed to by society members by making the 12 new proposed buyers pool extra money escalation cost the problem could be solved Everyone agreed and we completed the project before the deadline June 23 as mentioned in RERArdquo Dedhia addedNow that society members will be given fit out possession it will help them complete furniture and fixtures before getting the occupancy certificate OC ldquoWe hope the developer applies for the OC at the earliest and there is no further delayrdquo a senior citizen member of the society said