At Mumbra's first 'veg' building, hypocrisy served, but not non-veg food

Residents of Shiv Darshan dont want those who follow a nonvegetarian diet to reside hereThis may be the only vegetarian building in all of Mumbra a Thane suburb where 90 of the population is Muslim But the residents probably meant something else entirely when they recently put up a lsquovegetariansonlyrsquo board at the entrance Ironically many of the occupants admit to eating meat Residents of Shiv Darshan a threestorey building near Shankar Mandir claim that the vegetariansonly rule has been in place for longBut according to one of the owners Geeta Mule it was only recently that someone put up a board declaring that only vegetarians would be allowed to buy or rent flats More to the point the board was only put up after she tried selling her home to Muslim buyersThe signboard at the entrance PicDatta KumbharThey too eat meatThe residents of the buildingrsquos 21 apartments are presently all Hindus but they hail from various parts of the country and several are nonvegetarian in their diet In fact Mule too is a meateaterThe 37yearold has been a resident of Flat No 202 for three years and lives there with her husband and two kids Recently she decided to sell the apartment I had bought the 1RK flat for Rs 10 lakh three years ago and we have been living in the 350 sqm house since Now that my children are growing up we have decided to move to a bigger house I am trying to sell my flat and asking for a price of Rs 13 lakh but have had trouble finding a buyer because of the vegetarian rule she saidA few days ago a real estate agent brought two women from the Muslim community to show them my flat But the other residents objected to members of the community living here After that I allowed only Hindu prospective tenants to see my home Now they have put up the board to announce that only vegetarians will be allowed to buy flats here which is harassment We live in a neighbourhood where 90 of the population is Muslim Why make this an issue said MuleResidents of Shiv Darshan dont want those who eat meat to reside hereWhose rule is it anywayMule alleged that the board was put up by resident Mira Gupta who claims to be the society chairman However Gupta denied the allegation and said I did not introduce the rule It has been in place for many years I have not put up the board either About residents of the building eating nonvegetarian food we havenrsquot gone into their homes to checkAnother resident Gurunath Patil however said that the rule against lsquononvegetariansrsquo was merely being used as a euphemism I have lived here for 20 years and am nonveg myself This is about not selling flats to members of a certain community he saidWhen midday tracked down the original owner of the plot Bhola Patil he refuted the claim of this being a lsquovegetarianresidentsonlyrsquo building since the startBhola Patil the original owner of the plot says the rule is not hisWhat about the restaurantWhile Patil is vegetarian he admitted that he had leased one of his groundfloor shops to a nonvegetarian Chinese restaurant If I was the one to put up the board why would I give my shop on rent to a Chinese restaurant The residents had opposed the coming up of the restaurant too he saidPatil lives in one of the apartments in the same building I sold my plot to the builder in 1989 The building has a society and I am not responsible for the rules imposed by it said Patil who is also vicepresident of the Congress party in ThaneA senior officer from Thane Municipal Corporation said We have not received any complaint in the matter