Crushed hopes of Mumbaikars by coming up on land required for constructing the 7th Corridor Railway line linking Kurla with Bandra
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he plot belonging to National Herald in Mumbai which continues to torment the Congress Party has infamous neighbors as well. A Society named Sai Prasad which contains names of Senior Congress leaders like Kripashankar Singh and senior bureaucrats like the current Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya was constructed on a plot adjoining the National Herald plot that originally belonged to the National Herald. This section of the plot was reserved to construct the necessary 7th Corridor connecting the Kurla Railway station on the Central Railway with Bandra Railway Station on the Western Railway through the Bandra Kurla Complex(BKC) which if constructed could have provided a cheaper and faster travel mode to the BKC. The construction of Saiprasad society dashed the hopes of Mumbaikars travelling between the Central & Western Railway of a cheaper connectivity and travel mode. This information was provided to RTI Activist Anil Galgali.
Saiprasad Cooperative Society had submitted an application for allotment of plot next to the Provident Fund building on 12th April 2000. A plot ad-measuring 6518.7 sq mtrs situated in Survey no 341 and CTS No 608/1 & 608/2 had an un allotted portion of only 1016.2 sq mtrs. Almost 1664.4 sq mtrs of land was reserved for the 7th corridor Bandra – Kurla Rail link. To merge and collect both the un allotted plots the layout of National Herald was modified without disturbing its size of 3479.26 sq mtrs. After change of the layout, 1340.3 sq mtrs of the total collected land of 2680.6 sq mtrs was alloted to Saiprasad society. Later on an additional 63.08 sq mtr of the land was allotted to Saiprasad taking its total allotment to 1403.35 sq mtrs. Saiprasad Society paid the Govt Rs 58 Lakhs 79 Thousand 114 as cost of the land between 2003 to 2007 costing a measly Rs 4190 per sq mtr to the society, whose members were prominent politicians and senior bureaucrats. The ready reckon-or rates at that time for the location was Rs 43,000 per sq mtr.
# New ‘Adarsh’
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]hen Guardian Minister Kripashankar Singh misused his position as Guardian Minister for Mumbai suburbs to get the land allotted to Saiprasad. The Collector of Mumbai Suburbs Shri C S Sangitrao’s daughter and brother along with the Resident Dy Collector Milind Shambarkar, Private Secretary to CM Dr Avinash Dhakne, were also beneficiaries of the allotment as they procured flats in the constructed society. The Current Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya, Information Commissioner Ajitkumar Jain, Ex Municipal Commissioner and accused in Adarsh Scam Jairaj Phatak, Kishore Gajbhiye, Himanshu Roy, Bipinkumar Singh, Hemant Kothikar, H K Javale, Rajkumar Kharatmol, were also beneficiaries along with Rucha Mistry, daughter of C S Sangitrao and his brother also C S Sangitrao.
# A peon also gets ‘Lottery’
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]here are also indications of Benami property in Saiprasad, as a peon working in a school at Dhule, Abhimanyu Daga Bhosale too has a flat in his name. His annual income is just Rs 55,000. One Surendra Pratap Singh, Brother-In-Law of Kripashankar Singh and a vegetable vendor in Navi Mumbai Ramashankar Shivmanohar Pandey also have a flat. Their flats were originally allotted to M M Mathew and Parvatidevi Lalbahadur Singh. The flat allotted to Adv Ujjwal Nikam was transferred to H K Jawale. The chief Promoter of the Society Adv Rajiv Chavan also a congress leader too holds a flat.
RTI Activist Anil Galgali had written a letter 5 years back to the then Chief Minister ‘Mr Clean’ Prithviraj Chavan on 31st December 2010, but no action was taken on the letter. The whole issue likens to the Adarsh scam and is even more graver as people in power that got flats in Adarsh similarly got flats allotted for themselves in Saiprasad. But more greater role was played in Saiprasad as the whole plot was realigned to get the plot for Saiprasad. The Hunger of the Politicians and the Senior Bureaucrats swallowed the hopes of Mumbaikars for having the 7th corridor connectivity of Kurla to Bandra, alleged Anil Galgali. Anil Galgali in a letter addressed to CM Devendra Fadnavis has demanded that the road blocks be cleared for the 7th Corridor and the possession of Saiprasad be taken and shifted to clear the way for the development of 7th corridor as is the practice undertaken in different development projects.
