MBRRB panel to check malpractices

MUMBAI, January 7: The Mumbai Buildings Repair and Reconstruction Board MBRRB has recently set up a special allotment committee to brin...

MUMBAI, January 7: The Mumbai Buildings Repair and Reconstruction Board MBRRB has recently set up a special allotment committee to bring in some semblance of transparency in the allotment of surplus tenements to persons on its Master List.

The Master List is a document which contains names of tenants of such buildings whose reconstruction has been declared not feasible and the tenants who are then allotted tenements in other reconstructed buildings. However, it was found that nearly 50 per cent of names in this list were bogus and many allottees were later found ineligible.

Vandana Khullar, chief officer, MBRRB, told Express Newsline, 8220;We have set up the allotment committee to expedite the process of allotting tenements to persons on the master list and end all kinds of malpractices going on now. We are still revising the list, to which 250 more names could be appended.8221;At present the list contains a total of 1316 names, of which 800-odd are in the waiting list category. Of the 314-odd buildings inthe island city where reconstruction was declared not feasible, 96 buildings were struck down because of their narrow plot size and many more have come under various reservations including road widening.

The committee holds twice-a-week meetings, open to tenants, at the Board office in the Griha Nirman building at Bandra and examines applications of people on the master list. Khullar has urged more tenants to attend its meetings so that their problems can be attended to immediately at a one window system. The committee comprises the chief officer, deputy chief officer Reconstruction, Dy Engineer who prepared the original list, the vigilance officer and legal officer as its members.

The repair board will extend the master list provision to tenants who have been staying in transit camps for over 20 years waiting for their buildings to be reconstructed.

The Board is also seriously considering the option of building some buildings on open MHADA land and handing it over to residents of transit camps inlieu of their old buildings which it plans to acquire. The question whether tenants will accept this scheme remains unanswered.

8220;We will put up a list of surplus tenements on our notice board and ask tenants to give us three priorities where they would like to go. At present we allot them a tenement which is often rejected and the flat remains vacant for upto two to three years,8221; said Khullar. Those who chose to join the master list will however lose their right to their original tenancy. It is more likely that the surplus tenements allotted will be in the suburbs.

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However, while providing the option to others to join a growing master list, there appears no signs of much reconstruction activity underway. Further, the allotment priority will be seniority-wise those who have resided longest in a transit camp.