Mumbai: Mumbai Press is continuously monitoring the illegal activities occurring in the construction sector. Mumbai Press attempts to keep the public informed through every news report to protect them from fraudulent builders.

Currently, the process of filing documents for over 5,000 pavement slum dwellers in various projects is underway in Mumbai, where builders and their associates are buying and selling these files at very low prices through BMC officials.

The case of Mazgaon’s Alpha Mana Residency (AM Residency) is similar. According to BMC documents, the builder has provided houses to 20 pavement slum owners in this project, but the question arises: Were these individuals actually slum dwellers residing there?

In fact, AM Residency is being accused of a significant scam involving builder Salim Motorwala and his partner Suhail Ishq. The Alpha Mane Group wrote a letter to BMC E Ward expressing its intention to provide houses to 20 hut owners selected for their project, and corrupt officials of E Ward, Parveen Muluk and Amjad Khan, facilitated this by misleading their senior officials. In exchange for providing houses to these 20 hut dwellers, the builder received significant Floor Space Index (FSI) benefits. According to reports, on the day the contracts for the houses of the new hut owners were registered in AM Residency, these 20 hut files were transferred to the names of the builder and his family members, allegedly sold for only Rs 14 lakh, while now all these 20 houses are being marketed at market rates.

Many builders take on roles as trustees or responsible persons in mosques and madrasas but deceive the poor regarding their rightful housing in these projects.

Parveen Muluk and Amjad Khan of the E Department played a crucial role in this entire scheme.

To determine if the house you’ve purchased is a legitimate sale or a hut allotment, check if your payment is directed to the Alpha Mane Group or a third party. Legally, individuals allotted huts cannot sell their properties. However, the Alpha Mane Group accepted cheques in hut holders’ names and sold these houses to third parties, defrauding buyers. This also cheated the rightful hut holders, who had hoped for a better life after spending years living on the footpath.

Mumbai Press advises homebuyers to conduct thorough investigations when purchasing houses from potentially fraudulent builders. It’s crucial to verify in whose name your payment is being made.

New Delhi, March 1: India has emerged as a major automobile producer and exporter and a similar transformation has been observed in electronics manufacturing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Saturday.

Speaking at a media event here, PM Modi said that India is manufacturing everything — from semiconductors to aircraft carriers — and that the world wants to learn about India’s success in detail.

“India’s leadership in various sectors is the result of years of hard work and systematic policy decisions”, said PM Modi, highlighting the progress made over the past 10 years, where incomplete bridges and stalled roads have now transformed into dreams moving forward at a new pace with good roads and excellent expressways.

The Prime Minister emphasised that reduced travel time and costs have provided the industry with an opportunity to decrease logistics turnaround time, benefiting the automobile sector significantly. He noted the increased demand for vehicles and the encouragement of EV production, adding that today, India has emerged as a major automobile producer and exporter.

“India is not only providing products to the world but is also becoming a trusted and reliable partner in the global supply chain”, PM Modi noted.

Over the past decade, electricity has reached more than 2.5 crore families for the first time, leading to increased demand and production of electronic equipment.

PM Modi highlighted that affordable data has boosted the demand for mobile phones, and the increased availability of services on mobile phones has led to higher consumption of digital devices.

Programmes like PLI schemes have turned this demand into an opportunity, making India a major electronics exporter.

Stressing that not only millets but also India’s turmeric has gone from local to global, with India supplying over 60 per cent of the world’s turmeric, PM Modi remarked that India’s coffee has also achieved global recognition, making India the seventh-largest coffee exporter in the world. The Prime Minister also emphasised that India’s mobile phones, electronic products, and medicines are gaining global recognition.

New Delhi, March 1: Out of the 1,200 central and state government schemes, 1,100 are now under the ambit of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday.

FM Sitharaman said that this ensures that funds are directly transferred to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts, eliminating middlemen and reducing delays.

“Everything is going via direct payment, so there are no middlemen, no unborn children getting allowances,” the minister said, while speaking at the 49th Civil Accounts Day celebrations in the national capital.

The Finance Minister added that everybody who receives the fund has a biometric-verified account into which the money goes.

“The Public Financial Management System (PFMS) has played a crucial role in streamlining DBT,” she stated, noting that the system enables the government to ensure that the funds reach the intended beneficiaries without any irregularities.

FM Sitharaman further stated that PFMS currently serves around 60 crore beneficiaries, making it the largest financial management system of its kind in the world. Its end-to-end digitalisation feature has strengthened financial governance and enhanced accountability in fund distribution.

The PFMS interacts with over 250 external systems, including the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), PM Kisan, and the Tax Information Network (TIN 2.0). This integration allows smooth financial transactions and supports the government’s vision of cooperative federalism, the Finance Minister said.

In addition, PFMS has connected financial systems across states, working with 31 state treasuries and over 40 lakh programme implementing agencies.

“With its extensive network, the system plays a key role in ensuring that government funds are utilised effectively and reach those who need them the most,” Sitharaman said.

“When we talk about PFMS integrating systems. What better example can there be of cooperative federalism if only we recognise, all 31 state treasuries and over 40 lakh programme implementing agencies enabling unified financial management across states,” she said.