No aid in 22 years, residents face a harsher lockdown; request MHADA to expedite the project

Still waiting for the building to be rebuilt, residents say many of them lost jobs or suffered pay cuts during the lockdown; request MHADA to expedite the project; developer blames residents for delay in documentation

Not a single new brick has been laid on the Bandra East site where Govinda Tower crashed in 1998. Recorded as one of the city’s deadliest building collapses that left 33 people dead, it has also drawn one of the most apathetic responses from the authorities. The survivors are still waiting for their houses and have alleged that developer RNA Corp’s arm, AA Estate, has no intention of reconstructing the building. Moreover, over two decades later, they are still waiting for the compensation announced when the building crashed.

Living in rented accommodation ever since, residents said many of them have either lost their jobs during the lockdown or have faced pay cuts. Alleging that the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) isn’t helping them take the project forward, they have sought help from the state government.

The developer, however, has claimed that residents themselves are responsible for the delay as not all of them have submitted the required documents. According to Yogesh Gupta, an associate with RNA Corp, the developer got the project in 2012, but hasn’t received any documents except residents’ consent letters, despite the Bombay HC appointing a mediator in 2019. Mediation was initiated twice that year, but residents allege that MHADA isn’t giving the administrator the required documents to form a housing society.

In February this year, petitioners told the mediator they are not in favour of RNA Corp as their developer as the National Company Law Tribunal has declared the firm insolvent. A report to this effect has been submitted before the court.

A Govinda Tower resident, Yash Ghatalia blamed the RNA for the painful status quo and said things haven’t moved one bit since 2012. He said, “We are not responsible for this. MHADA is not responding to our requests and so a society hasn’t been formed till date.” Ghatalia added that the cooperative registrar appointed the administrator in 2016 to reinitiate the formation of society and make a list of validated members. “The registrar had six months to do that, but no action has been taken,” he said.

Ghatalia said he obtained the list of valid documents from MHADA through an RTI query but the housing body has refused to give the same list to the administrator.

Another resident, Nagesh Suvarna said they were never rented accommodation by RNA Corp. “We are paying Rs 25,000 as rent from our own pocket and we can’t afford it. We had our homes, but the system has kept us homeless,” Suvarna said.