After notices to 128 flat owners, Mumbai civic body acts on encroachment in high-rise

The BMC recently issued notices to flat owners over unauthorised alterations carried out across multiple floors.

The violations came to light in November last year following a complaint by RTI activist Santosh Daundkar, who flagged alleged encroachments in the building’s lobby areas. He alleged that some flat owners had illegally merged 450-500 square feet of common space with their apartments to increase the usable carpet area.

“Based on the prevailing market rate valuation of approximately Rs 50,000 per sqft, the encroached area represents an unauthorised gain of Rs 2.25 crore to Rs 2.50 crore per flat/unit. Considering the number of flats in Tower ‘A’, the aggregate market value of the encroached area is estimated to be in the range of 225 crore to Rs 250 crore,” read Daundkar’s complaint.

Later, based on the directive of the then BMC additional municipal commissioner, the civic ward office served 128 notices across the flats for unauthorised construction. In March, the civic body issued speaking orders to some flat owners for merging the lobby area into habitable spaces against the authorised building plans.

Following the notices, the BMC on Monday deployed labourers to raze the unauthorised constructions across floor on two floors inside one of the complex wings.

“The action by the Municipal Corporation is welcome. However, it raises more questions than it solves as to how the building plans were approved, which gave scope to encroach on the common areas, also has to be seen,” YP Singh, Daundkar’s advocate, said.