It's 7,500 vs 1 dhobi over children's park

The fact that he washes peoplersquos dirty linen in public isnrsquot the crux of the problem But for a group of residents in the JuhuVersova Link Road a single dhobi has come to symbolise unbending obstinacy His illegal settlement on a 600 sq ft plot of land is quite literally the only thing that stands defiantly between the residents and the childrenrsquos park they had envisioned for themselves This oneman army has singlehandedly taken on 7500 residents from over 25 housing societies who want to oust him from his illegal settlement and realise their dream of a park mdash their first in 25 years Residents include top doctors IAS officials and judgesu00a0 We wonrsquot move Santosh Kanojia with his family in front of the illegal structure PicRane Ashish An acre of grass Way back in 1987 the collector first allocated land to different housing societies on JuhuVersova Link Road and earmarked a plot to be developed into a recreation zone In 2004 a dozen of the housing societies mutually agreed to get the land developed into a childrenrsquos park u00a0They submitted a proposal for the park and in due time officials from the environment department came along to survey the plot To their surprise they found illegal encroachments on the plot and subsequently learnt that a part of the land was occupied by Santosh Kanojia a washerman Wonrsquot play by the rules The proposed playground near JuhuVersova Link Road which sprawls over 28000 sq feet Above The illegal settlement of the dhobi Who occupies more than 600 sq feet inside the park Picsu00a0Rane Ashish ldquoWe moved the first proposal for the childrenrsquos park in 2004 and an application was addressed to the collector The environment department conducted the survey and discovered the encroachmentsrdquo said Julie Gandhi resident and activist in the area ldquoThe collectorrsquos office asked the washerman to vacate the premises Kanojia did not comply leading to the demolition of the structure in 2005rdquo Gandhi further added Like most other demolished encroachments in the city the settlement was reconstructed within weeks and continues to stand in defiance of the outraged residents What followed was a nasty legal battle for possession of the land spearheaded by Gandhi and supported by residents in the area who were eager for their acre of green Laundry list Last year armed with paperwork members of the societies put private contractors to work on developing the park The entire area was gradually developed around the illegal settlement which stayed its ground Though numerous appeals have been issued to the dhobi to relocate over the years construction is still in a limbo Ramu Shetty the contractor onsite said ldquoWork has not been done in one corner of the park because of obstruction posed by the dhobirsquos settlement Water pipelines have to be laid and a jogging track which runs along the perimeter of the park has to be completed in that corner The compound wall behind the park has to be extended and plastered behind the settlement Fencing is also not possible in that corner We have approached the dhobi and tried to make him understand but he is stubbornrdquo The dhobi and his family of five occupy more than 600 square feet of the proposed park area which sprawls over a total of 28000 sq feet On paper Documents procured by MiD DAY clearly suggest that the dhobirsquos occupancy of the land is illegal The city civil and sessions court Borivli Divison in its order dated December 24 2011 states ldquoIt is made clear that the suit structure has not been legalisedrdquo The court however maintained that the structure not be removed highhandedly or without taking recourse to law In his order dated January 27 this year the deputy collector Encroachment and removal clearly stated ldquoThe structure is illegal and the occupant Santosh Kanojia should either vacate and take down the structure within seven days or face eviction and demolition of the structure by the collector the cost of which shall be borne by the occupantrdquo ldquoInitially when we approached him after the proposal of the park he assured us that he would vacate the premises himself in 15 days However on the fifteenth day he suddenly declared that he was a resident of the land with documents to support his claimsrdquo said Gandhi None of the documents submitted by Kanojia however establish that he is a resident of the plot in question Survey 161 Plot 4 Rather they suggest that he is a resident of different buildings in the housing society While his passport bank account PAN card and telephone bills bear the address of plot 36 his driving licence show a permanent address of plot 2 Officialspeak Nirmal Deshmukh the collector for the suburban district said ldquoI cannot comment on the matter before I take a look at the documentsrdquo Voices It is a clear case of encroachment and we have requested the authorities to clear it at the earliest I have also met the BMC commisioner at Konkan Bhawan where the matter is currently being heard There is no doubt that occupant has illegally encroached upon the land mdash Local MLA Ashok Bhau Jadhav The plot has been arranged and funded by the residents for the residents We were looking forward to finally having a park of our own especially because there are a lot of senior citizens living here Unfortunately the dhobi with his forged papers keeps appealing to parallel courts to prolong our inconvenience mdash Dr Ashwini Bhalerao The plot which was allotted to area 161 as a recreational ground is the collectorrsquos land meant for the use of residents Residents are trying to develop the land with the help of funds from the local MLA Mr Ashok Jadhav but their efforts are being hampered by the doggedness of a single washerman mdash Dr Kanta Mukherjee Every citizen wants a park in their society and I also want this park to come up mdash S Tripathi IAS officer retired The other side When contacted Santosh Kanojia said ldquoI am not going to go anywhere This is the collectorrsquos land and residents have no say in the matter Whatever I have to explain I have explained to the authorities Justice will prevailrdquou00a0