Sealed alive! Civic officials lock-up elderly woman inside her house

Civic officials paste a notice outside the Nalasopara flat and without checking seal it over nonpayment of house taxThe doorbell serves a purpose which these VasaiVirar Municipal Corporation officials need to be told A 70yearold woman was locked in her house in Gaurav Garden society Nalasopara West after three civic officials sealed the house last morning without checking if anyone was inside over nonpayment of house taxWhen the garbage collector comes later it comes to light that a 70yearold woman has been locked insideThe incident came to light after the garbage collector reached the flat and rang the bell Thatrsquos when the elderly woman realised she had been locked in The garbage collector alerted the neighbours who called up her daughter with whom the senior citizen had been staying for the last few monthsA neighbour then calls up the elderly womanrsquos daughter who works in Nirmal hospital informing her of what has happenedThe womanrsquos daughter Anugha Powale reached and called the police as well as the corporationSilent fiascoThe elderly woman has been identified as Rohini Kshirsagar a resident of Girgaum Sources said that yesterday morning Powale 36 had left for work and Kshirsagar was alone at home when three officials working with the municipal corporation on a contractual basis came to the flat stuck a notice beside the door and put a padlock before leavingThe daughter calls up the police a neighbour informs the civic body which sends a team IllustrationsRavi JadhavSociety secretary Vijay Rane said ldquoOn finding out that she had been locked in she started screaming A neighbour called up Powale I called up VasaiVirar Municipal Commissioner Satish Lokhande and told him what his officials had done He sent a team and got the seal brokenrdquoRohini Bhalchandra Kshirsagar 70 was alone when civic officials locked the house from the outside over nonpayment of property tax Neighbours had to later rescue herldquoWe gave her tea to calm her down she was quite agitatedrdquo Rane addedldquoThey should not have sealed the flat for such a small amount They should have issued at least three notices before taking such action As per the notice they pasted it was issued on January 5 and stated that the dues had to be paid by January 6 But it was signed by deputy civic commissioner Prakash Jadhav only on January 19rdquoDaughter seeks actionPowale a purchase officer at Nirmal Hospital who lives with her daughter and son told midday ldquoMy mother has a knee problem both were replaced a few months back and she was recuperating at my placerdquoldquoI left at 10 am the children had left for college I got a call around 1130 am from a neighbour after which I rushed home and later to the police station and gave a written complaint By the time I returned officials had unsealed the flatrdquo she addedldquoThe house is on the ground floor windows were also open How could the officials seal it without checking They could have at least asked the neighbours if anyone was there My mother is in shock she suffers from so many ailments has high blood pressure Had anything happened to her who would have taken responsibility Strict action should be taken against the officials who did thisrdquoDespite repeated attempts both Lokhande and Jadhav remained unavailable for comment