First redeveloped building in city gets civic body’s notice

Ganesh Tower, the first redeveloped building in the city, has been slapped with a notice for encroachment by the antiencroachment department of the NMMC.

The building is located at Sector 1 of Vashi. The notice is for commercial use of three parking spaces. One commercial user is reported to have made changes and constructed a staircase within the premises. A total of four spots have been identified in the building where encroachment has taken place.

Former deputy mayor and a close associate of former minister Ganesh Naik, Bharat Nakhate, resides in the building. It is believed that the building has been named after him by Nakhate, a staunch loyalist.

Following municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe’s orders, the NMMC has been going after illegal constructions and encroachments in the city. It has not spared top politicians either. Ganesh Tower Cooperative Housing Society too has been served the notice.

Cidco sold 176 flats here in the seventies in the buildings then known as C type apartments. Following grant of 1.5 FSI for redevelopment, the buildings located in a prime area were redeveloped.

Spread over 6,700 sqm area, the redevelopment of the buildings gave the residents bigger houses and some shops. The developer recovered the cost of the redevelopment by selling the shops.

The NMMC notice has claimed that the society has usurped parking area and constructed commercial premises there. There is also the issue of a staircase having been constructed to the first floor from inside a ground floor commercial premises.

Vashi ward officer Mahendra Singh Thoke said, “Notice has been issued to the society for encroachment. It has been given a month’s notice to clear the encroachments.”

He added, “If they do not clear it, the NMMC will take action and can also register a police case.”

Nakhate and the society committee members refused to speak on the issue.

A woman and her boyfriend were arrested for trying to force a minor girl into the flesh trade on Tuesday.

The girl, who is a Class 7 student, was sold for Rs2 lakh by her 40-year-old mother, whose identity has not been revealed.

The boyfriend has been identified as Mahesh Shantaram Varhadi, 40, a Vashi resident. He works as a pimp, said the police.

The woman works in a beauty parlour in Navi Mumbai.

A few years ago, the woman’s husband left her, after which, she began a relationship with Varhadi. Facing financial difficulties, the two planned to sell the woman’s daughter.

The anti-human trafficking cell, Thane, received a tip-off on Tuesday that a woman will sell her daughter near Castle Mill Naka, Rabodi, around 3pm. They laid a trap and arrested the two.

“We sent a fake customer, two women, and constables. She accepted Rs50,000 and was promised the rest after handing over the girl to us,” said Ravindra Daundkar, senior police inspector from the anti-human trafficking cell, Thane.

“We recorded the conversation between the accused and the fake customer when they met at a hotel in Rabodi. When the accused tried to hand over the girl, we caught them. They confessed to the crime,” added Daundkar.