Landowners refute govt’s claims, say no encroached land

SRA CEO Nirmalkumar Deshmukh had named five of Mumbai’s traditionally large landowners as those responsible for harbouring shanties on their plots. He had added that once acquired, the slum residents will be free to appoint a developer of their choice to implement the redevelopment scheme.

The list include land parcels belonging to FE Dinshaw Trust in Goregaon, AH Wadia Trust in Kurla, Mohammad Yusuf Khot Trust in Bhandup, VK Lal Investment Company Pvt Ltd in Dahisar-Borivli and Byramjee Jeejeebhoy pvt ltd in Malad.

Speaking to Newsline on Tuesday, spokespersons for Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Pvt Ltd and V K Lal Investment Co Pvt Ltd each pointed out gaping holes in the government’s version. A director with Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Pvt Ltd, which once owned 12,000 acre of land in Mumbai, but is now left with 1,000-odd acre, said: “To begin with, not an inch of our land is encroached upon. Moreover, we do not have any land in Malad, our plots are in Jogeshwari, Borivli and Lalbaug.”

Denying the charge that they have neglected their encroached land, an official of V K Lal Investment Co said: “We in fact specialise in slum redevelopment and have four to five ongoing SRA projects in Dahisar currently.”

The Nusli Wadia-administered FE Dinshaw Trust — Mumbai’s largest private land holder — refused to comment. Spokespersons for A H Wadia Trust and Mohammad Yusuf Khot Trust both accepted that parts of their land are encroached by slums, but said they will think of a course of action only once they receive any kind of notice from the government.

Despite attempts, Deshmukh was unavailable for comments.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com