Palghar: ‘This is our whole life’s savings; save our homes’

We have nowhere else to go We spent all our lifersquos savings to buy a home hererdquo said residents of Shree Gurukrupa Apartments in Virar East They are among the 3500 victims of the five conmen who also tricked the RERA and built 55 apartments illegally Police on Tuesday visited residents of three apartments to check the agreement of sale and related property papersThe Virar police on Tuesday visited three apartments in Virar EastmdashRudransh at Kopri village Shree Gurukrupa at Kargil Nagar and Siddharth The residents are in a panic after police asked for their house sale agreement and property papersThe police are taking the help of the VasaiVirar City Municipal Corporation VVCMC to verify the authenticity of the documents ldquoWe have informed the Virar police to give us information about the 55 buildings I am collecting details and starting an inquiry into this matterrdquo VVCMC Commissioner Anil Pawar told middayProbe onThe VVCMC has also ordered civic officials concerned to conduct an inquiry into the matter under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning MRTP Act 1966 for illegal construction and development ldquoThose buildings that are illegal will be sent notices and further action will be taken against themrdquo VVCMC Additional Commissioner Ramesh Manale saidShree Gurukrupa Apartments and its residents PicsHanif PatelSenior Inspector Rajendra Kamble of Virar police station said ldquoWe produced all five accused in the court today and they were sent to jail for 14 days We are currently visiting the societies We are verifying their documents with the VVCMCrdquo midday spoke to residents of Shree Gurukrupa Apartments which was constructed in 2011 and has 42 flats some of whom were woken up by men in khaki seeking their property papersBorrowed from builderPravin Pawar a resident and the secretary of the society said he purchased his flat for Rs 745 lakh in 2020 and lives there with his wife Prachi Pawar and their two children ldquoI work in the hospitality industry and bought the flat from the previous owner I have all the necessary documentation Suddenly we received a call from the police about our building being illegal Now we donrsquot know what to do where to gordquo Pravin said while speaking to middayldquoPolice the VVCMC and the authorities concerned should help us keep our flatsrdquo he added Rupesh Kakade another resident said ldquoI bought this oneroompluskitchen flat for Rs 7 lakh in 2012 and live here with my wife Shital I work as a field executive with a private company I used my lifersquos savings and also borrowed some money from the builder Prashant Patil at the time We have repaid the entire loanrdquoldquoSuddenly the police came to our door and asked for the agreement We submitted the agreement at the police station and have been cooperating with themrdquo Kakade saidCanrsquot afford to elsewhereShruti Santosh Patil lives at Shree Gurukrupa with her husband Santosh and their two children ldquoWe purchased this flat in 2015 for R7 lakh We also borrowed some money from the builder The police came to our house a few days ago and asked for the agreement of our flats We are scared now as they informed us that all these flats are illegalrdquo Shruti saidldquoThe police also mentioned that our society builder has defrauded many people by constructing illegal houses We donrsquot know where we would go with our children if they took our house away My husband works in a shop and is paid on a daily wage basis Itrsquos impossible for us to purchase a new houserdquo she addedChandrakant Mahadev Jaguste a 77yearold resident who lives with his family said ldquoWe have just this one home If we donrsquot get to keep it I will kill myself Neither the VVCMC nor any other department can claim that it is illegalrdquoNo action in monsoonOn taking action VVCMC chief said ldquoCurrently it is the monsoon season and many people are living in these buildings Hence we will not take any action But after the rains we will demolish all the illegal structures across VasaiVirar Currently we have a list of 55 illegal buildings We will also file a caveat in court to ensure that residents of these societies do not get a stay We have no choice but to demolish all these illegal buildings that were constructed by the accused We are also verifying with the RERA how they gave approval based on fake documentsrdquo42No of flats at Shree Gurukrupa Apartments