Protest by Mumbai housing societies outside collector's office called off after Poonam Mahajan's intervention

The protest by the Housing Societies on collector land has been called off, after the intervention of the local MP Poonam Mahajan, who got the chief minister involved. Nearly 3,000 societies in Mumbai and 22,000 in state are impacted after the collector asked then to cough up a fee even for mortgaging the properties. The societies want an amnesty scheme where the government should charge them Rs 100 per sq ft and transfer their property from Class B (Land with conditions) to Class A land where there are no conditions from government. The societies allege that in case of redevelopment, they have to pay a fee of 25 per cent of the amount, while mortgaging the property the member has to pay a fee of 0.25 per cent of the amount, while renting the fee is 5 per cent and so on.

Nearly 200 housing societies had decided to protest outside the Collector office in Bandra on Thursday morning. However, on Wednesday night it was decided by them to call off the protest after Mahajan intervened.

“Yes the protest has been called off, on Wednesday morning MP Poonam Mahajan spoke to CM Devendra Fadnavis on the agitation we were to conduct. Looking at the gravity of the situation, CM Devendra Fadnavis has agreed to meet us at the earliest. He will have an official meeting with the secretaries along with us. The date and time will be informed to us shortly. In view of the urgency shown, and the development, we will postpone our agitation indefinitely,” said Salil Rameshchandra, Convenor of the protest.

When contacted Mahajan, she said, "I have been fighting for this since I became MP. CM has always given us a good hearing. And instructed the revenue Secretary to work on it. The high court had given orders to make a small report in three months but it's been almost a year the revenue Secretary has not yet presented the report. There needs to be a mid-way for people who have been living there for years. And understanding their financial condition and state government's financial status. Both need to sit and sort out the issue, thus the government gets revenue and the old building owners can redevelop as the conditions of the building are not so good and some are dilapidated."