This 63-yr-old is a prisoner in 11-storey tower

Itrsquos been 13 years since 63yearold Vinayak Shankar Wagle moved into his eighth floor flat at Akurli Golden Palace Apartments in Kandivli with wife Mangala 60 and son Salil 32 in tow It was like a dream come true for the patriarch till he got the lowdown on what the circumstances actually were This building that stands inside the Lokhandwala Township in Kandivli has a total of 88 flats divided into two wings Wagle lives in a flat on the eighth floor at Akurli Golden Palace in Kandivli PicsNimesh Dave Around 65 dwellings are occupied according to residents Each wing has a provision of two lifts one of which is semiautomatic and the other automatic There is just one hitch not one of the four lifts has been functional for the past two years Vinayak has been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease COPD which has resulted in severe breathing problems His condition is such that he starts wheezing after walking a few metres The sexagenarian has been suffering from this ailment for seven years now and his condition worsened earlier this month Akurli Golden Palace He had to be rushed to a private hospital in Andheri on March 16 and was kept in the ICU for the next four days Even when the matter of taking him to the hospital came up his relatives and the paramedical staff from the ambulance had to carry him all the way down from the eighth floor using the stairs Needless to say it took a similar effort for him to reach his flat after being discharged When this reporter visited the building he was forced to walk all the way to the top 11th floor merely to meet the residents Sources in the apartment complex confirmed that the lifts in both the wings have been out of order since March 2011 A resident of Akurli Golden Palace Apartments in Kandivli uses the stairs as the lift in the building is out of order since 2011 PicNimesh Dave They added that after the lifts were instated in 2001 they functioned on and off till 2003 From 2003 to 2006 all four lifts remained inoperative The semiautomatic lifts were working from May 2006 till March 2011 Then these too stopped running The members of the society have written several complaints to the developer Jyoti Enterprises but to no avail Speaking to MiD DAY Vinayak Wagle said ldquoI have not stepped out of this house since 2011 I had the habit of going for a stroll every day but as my breathing trouble has worsened I canrsquot imagine climbing up and down the stairs We had a similar situation around 10 years ago when none of the lifts functioned But I was a younger man then and could manage the physical exertionrdquo Jaya Ahire His wife Mangala who is the owner of the house said ldquoAfter moving into this flat I hardly remember ever having seen the automatic lifts operate As my husband is not in a position to walk down the stairs my son and I do the entire running around Every day I have to make a minimum of two trips up and down these stairsrdquo She added ldquoEarlier the LPG supplier used to drop off the cylinder at our doorstep and we used to pay him extra for having to climb eight floors But for the past several months even they have been refusing to do so They now drop the cylinders off at the building entrancerdquo Thatrsquos not all As per his doctorrsquos advice Vinayak requires oxygen cylinders But since last year the supplier has refused to deliver merely because of the struggle of carrying the cylinders to the eighth floor Vinayak is not the only senior citizen in the building who has to bear the brunt of the state of affairs MiD DAY found another family residing on the seventh floor of the same wing as the Wagles Tehmi Baria 75 has been living with her son and other relatives in this society for the past 10 years She too has breathing trouble and has not stepped out of the house for over a year now ldquoI remain indoors the entire day These lifts do not function and at this age I canrsquot possibly use the stairs daily I fell ill last month and we had to request the doctor to come up to our flatrdquo Baria said ldquoIt is very difficult to live in a highrise without any lifts The situation is so bad that when we ask for home delivery all the carriers demand extra money just because they have to walk up to the seventh floor Even that doesnrsquot always work and often we have to go all the way down to receive our orders Thankfully we have a maid who does the legworkrdquo said her son Yzdi While speaking to this reporter a domestic help who works in a few households in the building said ldquoI used to visit a few flats twice or thrice a day But now with the nonfunctional lifts I have explicitly told my employers that I wouldnrsquot be able to come more than once a day By the time I reach a flat on a higher floor I feel completely exhaustedrdquo Sources in the building alleged that the developer had illegally built three extra floors in one of the wings and two more in the other Hence the occupation certificate OC from the government is still pending They also claimed that the developer had not taken any permission before installing these lifts and also failed to get any authorisation for operating them The quality of the lifts is also said to be below par as they break down frequently and require heavy maintenance Rs 60 Lakhsu00a0the approximate cost of replacing all four lifts in the building The other side Tarun Bajaria the developer and owner of Jyoti Enterprises brushed aside the allegations ldquoI have paid for fixing the lifts twice Now they have stopped operating for the third time and it is the responsibility of the society members to shell out the money Several issues related to the building are pending in courts As long as these are not sorted out I will not pay for fixing the liftsrdquo Bajaria added ldquoThese matters cannot be discussed over the phone I cannot comment on other allegations by the residents I have necessary documents to prove my statementsrdquo Residents speak After kneereplacement surgery on both legs doctors advised my 57yearold husband to walk lessHe is not supposed to climb the stairs but we have no optionLuckily our flat is on the second floor Manda Bagwe u00a0 My husband met with an accident in 2012 and has undergone surgery in his legs He is 56 and has to climb seven floors daily using a walking stick I am a housewife and I have to climb the stairs daily about six times Our nine and sevenyearold grandkids used to live with us But the lift issue has forced my daughter and the kids to shift to Ghatkopar I am forced to carry LPG cylinders and groceries all the way up because my husband canrsquot Kusum Madne Lifts have not been working for over two years The society hasnrsquot received an OC as the developer has constructed few floors illegally When we purchased this flat it was a new construction and we believed permissions would be obtained soon But nothing has improved since then Relatives visit only when the lifts are working We are unable to sell the flat as no buyer wants to put up with the inoperative lifts Sitaram and Poonam Ghadge