Nowhere to go, 83-year-old stuck in creaky building in Mumbai

With the redevelopment of an old residential building in IC Colony stuck in litigation a senior citizen is the only one left in the fourstorey structure With no income amid the lockdown things turned worse for Celine Sequeira 83 after the BMC cut power and water supply a month agoSequeira at her 2BHK homeSequeira lives in the Stone Castle Cooperative housing society in Borivli West She has been asked to vacate her 2BHK flat by the BMC but has nowhere to go Before the lockdown Sequeira used to earn a living by keeping three to four girls as paying guests But they too went to their hometowns ldquoI wanted to get myself admitted to an oldage home but due to COVID no one is ready to admit merdquo Sequeira saidSequeira has been living in the flat which was owned by her brother Paul for 32 years She moved there after her husband Paul diedldquoI havenrsquot eaten in two days I am living in darkness as therersquos no power People from the church have been helping me with drinking water but I canrsquot live like this for long I will dierdquo Sequeira saidldquoIf I were to get rent money from the builder I would have survived But all doors are closed Only the gas pipeline is still operating but I donrsquot have money to buy groceries The church is also helping me with medicines but how can one survive without water and electricity Why is the BMC doing this to merdquo Sequeira said Her building has been declared as dilapidatedWhy project is stuckMost of the flat owners from Stone Castle society had agreed to redevelopment by the Chauhan Group However some went to court Jayesh Chauhan of the Chauhan Group told midday ldquoI canrsquot help this woman as I havenrsquot received development rights yet If my project starts I will pay rent to all society member or provide accommodationrdquoHelen DrsquoSilva a 45yearold cancer patient who resides in another wing and has opposed the redevelopment along with 12 other members said ldquoWe have total 72 flats and 57 society members some of whom own two flats My building is not dilapidated We registered a case against the developer BMC and the society over the redevelopment On April 6 the BMC disconnected the power and water supply They had served a notice to vacate in January It is not possible to live like this My health will be further affected Police have been of no help eitherrdquoThe opposing members say they got the building audited by a private auditor who categorised it under C2B no eviction but requiring major repairs fixing of leakages while the BMC categorised it under C1 very dangerous recommends vacating immediatelyAbraham the societyrsquos secretary said ldquoThe repairing cost of the building is more than the redevelopment cost I too am facing a financial crisis I used to get rent from my flat in this building but that has stopped now Living in 40yearold Stone Castle is not an option thoughrdquo The local assistant municipal commissioner could not be reached despite several attempts13No of society members opposing the redevelopment