SRA scam in the making?

[karira]

As reported by Ninad Siddhayein dnaindia.com on 22 August 2008:
DNA - Mumbai - SRA scam in the making? - Daily News & Analysis

SRA scam in the making?

105 residents of a Worli slum, having the same surname, are listed under it

If information from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is to be believed, 105 members of Anna Nagar slum in Worli have been listed with the surname Devendra under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme. This could be an indicator of the extent of misappropriation under the scheme.

However, PM Prabhughate, public relations and administrative officer of SRA, said this was a rare case. He added that there was no way that so many slumdwellers having the same surname could be allotted houses in the same residential area. However, pointing a finger at municipal authorities, he said SRA had no direct role in allotting the tenements. “The original document is with the assistant municipal commissioner. They send us the list of slumdwellers to whom we allot the tenements.”

Assistant municipal commissioner of G/South ward SY Gadkari said he was not aware of the case, but would look into the matter for misappropriation.
Milind Sharad Mulay, an RTI activist from Dadar, had applied to the MCGM to find the number of eligible slumdwellers from area. According to the document provided to Mulay, there are around 221 structures in the Anna Nagar slum, of which 174 are eligible under SRA scheme.

Information by MCGM revealed that 105 units — residential as well as commercial — were allotted to persons bearing the same surname. Out of these, 99 are residential, five commercial and one is residential-cum-commercial. Out of the 105 ‘Devendra’ families, 21 residential units were not eligible for rehabilitation as the slumdwellers could not provide adequate evidence.