Report in DNA dated 26th June 2008

Rendered homeless by 'flawed' SRA norms

Pereirawadi residents say they have been done in by a signature campaign

Linah Baliga


All accusing fingers now point at Cyril Mecwan, the chief promoter at Pereirawadi.

A major flaw in the 1997 guidelines for implementation of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has come to the fore following the demolition of the slum in Bandra (west).

As per the guidelines, the chief promoter, and not the suburban collector, prepared the annexure II list, which, residents alleged, enabled the builder to form the bogus society.

Residents claimed that Mecwan had allegedly carried out a signature campaign in October 2006 to remove a board put up by Rizvi Builders in the area, which was later used as consent to dishouse them. "We later found out that the board was removed for road widening and footpath work. However, we thought it was because of the signature campaign," said Ashwin Parmar, a resident.

Parmar claimed they realised they were taken for a ride when a bogus society called Pali Pereirawadi SRA Co-operative Housing Society Ltd was formed.

However, when contacted, Mecwan said that the society was formed to remove Rizvi Builders from the area. "After the builder put up his board, residents came together to form a society to get rid of him. They also roped in Dilip Patil and another builder to redevelop Pereirawadi."

Residents also alleged that in 2007, Mecwan had summoned a meeting at St Teresa Convent High School. At the meeting Patil claimed that revenue minister Narayan Rane's son Nilesh Rane was also a part of the venture.

"Nilesh Rane was never in the forefront, but his man Nitin Vengulekar was present at the time of demolition on June 2," said Parmar.

However, much to the residents' ignorance an SRA scheme was announced and blank agreements were signed by a few of them. "We filed an application under the right to information act and got hold of the Annexure II list. Nearly 70 per cent of the names on the list are bogus," said Ramesh Mecwan, another resident.