On Wednesday, police registered three fresh FIRs against Vinayak Apartment, Omkar Apartment and Anandi Villa in Chandansar that were built illegally in Virar (E), as per the civic administration’s complaint. While Mohan Mhatre, developer of Vinayak Apartment and Chandrakant Patil, developer of Omkar Apartment, were issued show-cause notices on April 20 last year, Rambhau Patil, who built the ground-plus five-storey Anandi Villa in Chandansar was sent a notice of illegal construction on December 26, 2018, but no action was taken thereafter. The VVMC told police that the parties concerned did not respond to the notices, and hence the complaint.
Meanwhile, the VVMC is still gathering details of the 55 files of illegal residential buildings seized from the five arrested accused — Dilip Benvanshi, owner of Rudransh Developers, his partner Prashant Patil and their accomplices Machindra Vanmane, Dilip Adhkale and Rajesh Naik — who are suspected of having cheated home buyers since 2015. Virar police have seized 115 counterfeit seals of various government agencies from them.
Activists said there is panic among residents as more than 90% of buildings in Virar (E) are illegal and all have water, electricity and property tax. These include chawls that sell at Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh, constructed and occupied overnight. So far, none of the illegal buildings occupied by people has been demolished. Activists said the modus operandi is to construct illegal structures and get it occupied to avoid demolitions. Commercial structures are razed, but they spring up again. Four resorts along the coastline that were found to have violated CRZ rules were demolished by the revenue department in June, but they are now back in business, said activists.
