CIDCO flouts quota norm, gives nothing to disabled
Taking recourse to RTI, Vijaya Kalan, who is partially paralysed and a heart patient, discovers the government body does not have any provisions for flats for people who are differently challenged ……ALPITA MASURKAR
Vijaya Kalan (37) is partially paralysed and she is a heart patient. But what makes her situation worse is the fact that she has to drag herself up and down seven floors from her apartment, whenever there is load shedding in her complex at Kharghar.
The reason? According to the Right to Information Act (RTI) copy in possession with Mumbai Mirror, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra Ltd, that developed the housing complex, has blatantly overlooked the rights of handicapped people. They have not reserved any apartments for them in the housing societies developed since 1995.
In January 2004, when I heard CIDCO was opening up housing stock in its newly developed Spaghetti Complex in Kharghar, I applied for it. They had said apartments were available on a first-come-first-serve basis. In January, I wrote to them, asking for a flat in Navi Mumbai. In July 2004, I again wrote to CIDCO and this time, I mentioned I was physically handicapped. I mentioned that according to the state governments policy for disabled persons, my physical condition should be taken into consideration, said Vijaya Kalan, a school teacher.
However, when Kalan approached the CIDCO authorities on July 19, 2004, they said that all flats had been already booked, except for one on the seventh floor. They added that since Spaghetti housing complex had basic facilities like lifts, Kalan would not face a problem on buying the flat.
Since I needed a house, I took possession of the apartment in December 2006. But from May 2005, the area started facing load shedding. That marked the beginning of Kalans battle with CIDCO for her rights.
The society did not use a generator as they wanted to cut costs. I am a working person and I feel exhausted every time I have to drag myself up and down seven floors. The staircase do not even have rails to hold on to. She states there is a power cut in the complex almost everyday.
At one time, when she felt unwell and needed medical assistance, she had to take the help of residents to carry her down. It was when Kalan applied under RTI to find out the number of vacant flats in her complex, she found out that there were 115 vacant flats in her complex. CIDCO, had, in its reply dated December 1, 2007 revealed 20 of them were on the ground floor. Three of them matched Kalans requirement of a two- bedroom apartment. Kalan also learnt that CIDCO had not reserved any flat for the handicapped in the housing complex.
Mohan Ninave, CIDCO spokesperson said, CIDCO follows all government policies. But we could not reserve apartments for the handicapped in our newly built Vastu Vihar as there is no ground floor in the building. When asked about Spaghetti Complex, he said that he would check if the state governments policy was followed and could not comment.
Jamshed Mistry, Kalans advocate told Mumbai Mirror, The state government has framed a policy for persons with disability on the Persons with Disability Act 1995. According to this policy, the government agencies have to reserve 3 per cent or more of the apartments in a housing complex developed by them for the handicapped. This applies to agencies like MHADA and even CIDCO. Although MHADA has abided by this reservation, CIDCO, according to the RTI information, has not.Kalan has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court for her rights on May 7, 2008.
Vijaya Kalan has to climb up and down seven floors every time there is a power cut in the building