Minister comes to the rescue of 8220;errant8221;builder

While permission had been granted for shops on the groundfloor and residential premises on the upper two floors, the builder had converted all the three buildings as commercial complexes. The space below the ground floor stilts was also sold out for shops as quot;lower ground floorquot;.

According to the complaint the builder had utilised 5,500 sq ft of additional FSI. Pawar had asked the commissioner to investigate the matter and take appropriate action against the quot;erring quot; builder.

Accordingly, the NMC had issued a notice to the builder, who had submitted a reply. However, within six months, Pawar wrote another letter to the commissioner on July 16, 2000, which was exactly the opposite of what he had written in his earlier letter.

His second letter was attached with a clarification from Suyojit Builders. In the letter, Pawar claimed that some competitors of the builder had conspired to quot;misguidequot; him on the issue and that his earlier letter was an quot;oversightquot;.

Pawar, in a volte face not befitting a minister, asked the commissioner to consider the clarification of the builder and quot;regularisequot; the anamolies by charging a premium.

The question is: What made Pawar reverse his stand? Was he really taken for a ride? Pawar happens to be the same minister who had welcomed the attackers of Christians who had assaulted a Christian gathering in Abhona in Kalwan constituency when they were released on bail in May this year and had justified his action by saying that they were his voters.

Incidentally, Pawar has been elected from Kalwan to the state assembly six times. In 1972 he was elected on a Bharatiya Kranti Dal ticket; in 1977 and 1980 on Congress tickets; and in 1990 and 1995 on BJP tickets. He was also inducted as a cabinet minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP cabinet led by Manohar Joshi.

On the eve of the last assembly polls in 1999, Pawar joined the NCP and got elected from Kalwan.

His quot;elective meritquot; always makes his transition from one party to other easier. Meanwhile, the Municipal Commissioner Krishnakant Bhoge, when contacted, told The Indian Express that he had directed the Deputy Director of Town Planning to investigate the case.

He said that quot;building completion certificatequot; had not yet been issued to the four buildings. However, when asked whether the unauthorised portion of the buildings would be demolished, Bhoge said that it would not be wise to resort to demolition in public interest. He said that several banks, private nursing homes and other utility services were operating from the buildings.

He also added that while taking a decision public convenience would be taken into consideration.

Bhoge further said that the NMC was planning to install a kiosk at its headquarters, educating the public on what they should check before investing money in property. He said that any person visiting the NMC headquarters would be able to access the information and make his checklist before buying a plot, flat or an office/shop.

Bhoge said that normally people were not aware of the rules and they invest money in property and the builder gets away with violation of norms. He said that it was not wise to demolish such structures as those who had invested money in such property are usually innocent people.