It`s been six years since primary school teacher Kusum Hodar and her family of three moved out of their room at the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) Chawl at Chandanwadi, Marine Lines. When they left, they were promised a 405 sq ft apartment in a high-rise in the same location by 2019. Far from receiving the keys to their new home, the monthly rent of Rs32,000, which they used to get as a cheque, stopped coming in from July 2019 onwards. Hodar was among the tenants who staged a protest at Azad Maidan on March 11, against the developers. “Our demands are simple. We want what we were promised—our monthly rent, the flat and the corpus amount of Rs 11,11,000,” said Hodar, who now resides in a rented home in Kalbadevi. 

Some of the residents went ahead and filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the developers, Valencia & Mishal Ventures Pvt Ltd, in August 2020. In their petition, the residents had said that the developers had informed them that the building would be of 22 floors, but it suddenly became a 44-floor structure. While the HC granted the petitioners interim relief, the case will now be heard in the Supreme Court. Aatif Yakub, director of  Valencia & Mishal Ventures Pvt Ltd told mid-day that the building was always supposed to be a 44-floor structure. Yakub’s company is also constructing the 66-floor luxury residence, One Marina, whose flats are for sale in the open market starting Rs4 crore approx upwards. It offers unparalled vistas of the Arabian sea, an infinity pool, gymnasium, and a mini theatre. According to Yakub, construction work got affected due to COVID-induced lockdowns. But, residents say that work has been moving at a snail’s pace since 2016. Only five floors of the building have come up as of now.