Mumbai: Citizens From 50 Housing Societies To Protest Corruption In Cooperative Department At Azad Maidan

Citizens from 50 different housing societies will register their protest against corruption and malpractices in the registrar offices of the Cooperative department on Tuesday.

The citizens' protest is against the alleged public servant mafia which work against the provisions of law exploiting innocent citizens and guarding the accused from punishments.In November 2023, citizens from different societies registered their protest against malpractices in working registrar offices of the cooperative department but claim that post the protest, things have worsened and registrars have become more fearless, exhibiting audacity of disobeying directions under law.

Fight Against Cooperative Corruption (FACC), a group of such citizens who have been fighting to get justice from Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Cooperative Societies and Slum Rehabilitation Authority will be joining for a protest at Azad Maidan on Tuesday. People from across the city who have been facing injustice from the cooperative registrar, MHADA officers, SRA officers, BMC officers, police and judicial officers will gather to collectively express their outrage.

Citizens who have faced financial, physical and emotional agony by the unethical work practices of the public servants, who violate the provisions of law, delay legitimate action, deprive citizens from legitimate information and disobey law, will register their protest at the mass gathering from 10.30 am to 5 pm.Reshma Chakraborty, coordinator of FACC, said, “Things have definitely changed after our protest last year but only for worse. It seems that the allied officers of BMC, MHADA, police and all the government authorities are working in a nexus. We do not demand anything extraordinary but only if these officers start following the rule of law, around 80% of the cases will be solved.”

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After the Free Press Journal highlighted the plight of these ordinary citizens protesting against the registrar’s office at Azad Maidan in November last year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took note of the citizen's woes and had appointed a special housing cell under his political party banner to resolve people's problems, appointing Hemant Khandekar as the chief coordinator of this special cell.

Khandekar coordinated with FACC with a promising statement to bring positive change in the system but the citizens have seen no positive result. The citizens claimed that he wrote to the CM regarding non-implementation of reforms in the cooperative departments but no action has been taken against the defaulting registrars. Contrary to the hope, the citizens claim that the public servants became more cruel, fearless and exploited provisions of law to protect the accused from the punishment.

Ajay Gupta, a resident of Ekatmata Nagar Mahapalika Laghu Vetan Karmachari Gruha Nirman Ltd. in J.B. Nagar, Chakala, said, “The flat I paid money for and live in has not been transferred to my name for the last 18 years. The deputy registrar has issued two notices to the society but the managing committee has taken no action to resolve my dispute. They even showed the former owner of the flat as deceased when she was alive.”

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Jeetendra Narvekar, a resident of Pantnagar Sangam in Ghatkopar (E), said, “Siddhivinayak Developers demolished our building for the purpose of redevelopment and then the work was stopped. Since three years, it has completed construction of only the ground floor. We are not being paid allowances for rent and MHADA is not taking any action against the builder. In fact, it helped the builder to change the building from residential to commercial.”