Mumbai: Bandra housing societies see red over green plot

White Orchid housing society resident Paul Varghese right and their lawyer Jagdish Ahuja stand outside the gate where vehicular entry has been blocked PicSayyed Sameer AbediResidents of two housing societies located in Bandras Pali Naka area are seeing red over the reduction of a green plot in their shared premises While White Orchid society alleges Kakad society has reduced the garden area to turn it into a parking space and closed off their common entry gate the latter has rubbished the allegations claiming the matter is sub judiceThe issue began 15 days ago when Kakad society closed off the entry gate it shares with White Orchid The two buildings share a plot of land measuring about 2676 square metres which also includes a recreational ground originally measuring 373 sq m which has now been reduced to 1686 sq m Kakad society claims it has been fighting against the approved plan of the building since 1996The entry gate shared by the two housing society which has been blocked for vehicular entry PicSayyed Sameer AbediComplained to BMCHence according to White Orchid Kakad claimed some of the gardens space to park their cars and recently shut the common entry gate for White Orchid residents cars White Orchid has complained to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC about the parking issueA society member of White Orchid Paul Varghese said There is a nursing home in our premises and the main gate is locked They are not even allowing the ambulances to enter Kakad was also allotted parking in the original approved plan but theyre encroaching the recreational groundWhite Orchids lawyer Jagdish Ahuja said We have been following up with BMC to take up our complaint since a long time and finally when I approached the deputy municipal commissioner he directed the ward officials to verify the complaint with approved plans and then take action It was after rigorous followup with the BMC ward office that the plans were verified This was in 2017Initiated actionPost that BMC lodged an FIR at the Bandra police station in October 2017 but no charge sheet has been filed in the case yet Sharad Ugade assistant municipal commissioner said We have verified the documents after visiting the building and observed that the recreation ground has been reduced and used for parking purposes We have already initiated action against members of Kakad society for this but they are claiming the plans are incorrect However we are going ahead with the plans currently available at our office I will also follow up with the police station on the further course of actionWhen midday asked the police about why they havent filed a charge sheet yet the investigating officer IO and senior police inspector PI at Bandra police station kept passing the buck to each other The IO asked midday to check with senior PI Pandit Thackeray He said I will check the FIR and update When midday called Thackeray to check about the FIR he did not answerKakad society saysResponding to the allegations Kakad societys secretary Kishore Ahuja said All allegations made by them are totally incorrect and false I have put a lock on my property and not on others Even that FIR is false and I have given the BMC a letter asking them to withdraw it and given a copy of the same to the police station The plans accessed by midday have been challenged in court and since 2003 the Bombay High Court has given a status quo in the case Thus the entire plan and FIR itself are totally incorrectBMC is party to the suit so how can they file an FIR against us White Orchid has no name on the property card since it was denied by the city survey because their name is in several court cases They dont have a title deed either said AhujaCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates