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Mumbai: The residents of Chembur’s Mysore Cooperative Housing Society have accused the society’s office bearers of illegally building a clubhouse without any approvals from the municipal corporation. The residents have alleged that the clubhouse has been constructed on the piece of land reserved under development plan but the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has not taken any action against the illegal structure.
The clubhouse of upscale Mysore Cooperative Housing Society of 91 bungalows spread across 21 acres in Chembur (E) has entered a dispute after a few residents have written to the BMC commissioner alleging that the structure has been built without any approval from the municipal corporation on a land reserved under the Development Plan 2034. The complaint also cites a Right To Information (RTI) reply from the BMC’s Building Proposal department which says that it has not granted any approval for a club house.
According to the first complaint written in July by Arun Sekhri, a resident and member of the managing committee of the society, the office bearers of the society decided to dismantle a temporary structure in the guise of renovating it but instead constructed a brand new ground-plus-one structure clubhouse between April and September last year. The complaint also alleged that the office bearers declined to table the proposal to construct the clubhouse for committee’s approval and also refused to table approvals from the BMC.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Sekhri said, “I stopped attending meetings after the secretary discontinued to present monthly income expenditure statements and I did not want to be a part of any financial irregularities. This clubhouse has been built on the land parcel which was reserved for a public road under DP 2034. Without approvals from the BMC and fire department, the office bearers have erected a dangerous structure. It is upon the BMC to find out the structural stability of this clubhouse.”
The Free Press Journal contacted D Anita Lawrence, secretary of the Mysore Cooperative Housing Society, who said, “All these complaints are baseless as we have all the necessary approvals from the concerned departments. The clubhouse is a temporary structure which was built before 1964.” Whereas Gurudas Pai, the chairman of the society claimed that the land has been removed from DP reservation and the society had written to the BMC informing about the renovation.
