Agitated home buyers from delayed Kalpataru Group’s projects protested at the developer’s exhibition stall at the CREDAI-MCHI expo at MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex on Sunday.
A 45-strong group, consisting of home buyers from Kalpataru Radiance in Goregaon and Kalpataru Immensa in Kalpataru Park City project in Thane, staged a silent protest at the Kalpataru exhibition stall. The home buyers entered the expo, which is showcasing hundreds of new projects from some of the leading developers in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, as visitors, and then gathered together at the Kalpataru exhibition stall at the expo around noon, holding placards questioning the developer’s silence on the delayed projects.
The group included 30 home buyers from Kalpataru Radiance which has been delayed due to the Patra Chawl redevelopment project in which MHADA has refused to grant Occupancy Certificate to private developers until the 672 original tenants of Patra Chawl get possession of their homes. The group also included 15 buyers from Kalpataru Immensa, which has also been delayed by several years.
“The developer has collected around ₹1,500 crore from buyers. There is absolutely no clarity or any communication on the possession to their flats from the developer. I have paid from my retirement fund. I need concrete answers with timelines from the Kalpataru management today. We can’t wait anymore,” said 74-year-old retired army officer Sushil Kumra.
No senior management from Kalpataru was present at the expo to speak to the buyers. CREDAI MCHI President Boman Irani and other managing committee members, however, intervened and pacified the home buyers assuring them of a meeting with the developer soon.
The protest came a few days after a strong protest by home buyers from Kalpataru Radiance, Ekta Tripolis, and The Luxor, all impacted by the legal tangle involving Patra Chawl redevelopment project, at MHADA headquarters at Kala Nagar in Bandra on September 14. A delegation of home buyers had met MHADA Vice President and Chief Officer Yogesh Mhase demanding that Occupancy Certificate be issued for the Radiance project at the earliest. Mhase had assured them that some decisions were likely to be taken at the government level meeting on September 26.
The home buyers had also met Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis with an appeal for his intervention and an early resolution to the impasse by directing MHADA to issue the OC. “Our buildings are almost ready for four years now. Delay is causing huge hardship to our families as most of us are paying EMIs and house rents. We demand immediate possession of our homes,” said Vandana Parihar, a home maker.
In a bid to complete Patra Chawl redevelopment project, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government had issued a government resolution in July 2021 directing MHADA to fund and complete the rehab tenements, pay transit rent to the chawl dwellers unpaid since 2017 and sign appropriate consent terms with private developers who had constructed high rises on MHADA land. NCP Chief Sharad Pawar had flagged off the completion of the tenements. MHADA subsequently appointed a contractor, and the work has begun on completing the rehab tenements.
The Patra Chawl redevelopment project continues to be under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate.