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.

Ahmedabad: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that 360 km of the Bullet Train project has been completed, with significant progress on the Maharashtra section that got a setback due to a delay in permissions by the Uddhav Thackeray government.

“The Bullet Train project is progressing well, with 360 km completed and track laying underway… The project aims to create economic hubs along the route, boosting growth in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodra, Anand and Ahmedabad, making them interconnected as a single economic zone,” Vaishnaw told mediapersons.

He said all these cities will see huge economic activities. “A Bullet Train should not be seen just as a transportation project but it a project for the growth of the entire area,” he said.

He said that the Maharashtra section of the Bullet Train project is advancing well, with “almost 2 km of the undersea tunnel completed.”

He criticised Uddhav Thackeray alleging that his government delayed the project by two-and-a-half-years. However, he stated, work is now moving at full speed and will greatly benefit future generations.

The Railway Minister also highlighted the growth patterns related to the first Bullet Train in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka.

The six big stations between Osaka and Tokyo – Nagoya, Kyoto, Atami, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama and Odawara – have become big industrial hubs, he said.

Vaishnaw said similar gains, in terms of growth, will be made on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor.

“In the morning, a person would be able to have a breakfast of fafda-dhokla in Ahmedabad and attend to work in Mumbai during the day before returning home and spending time with kids in Ahmedabad,” he said.

Similarly, a person in Mumbai would begin the day with a breakfast of poha and complete his work in Surat during the day and return to Mumbai to spend time with the family in the evening, he said.

During his visit to Ahmedabad’s Kalupur Railway Station, the Minister attended an event organised by the Rail Line Development Authority.

Speaking about the Ahmedabad Kalupur Railway Station redevelopment project, Vaishnaw emphasised that it is a four-year initiative designed to be a major gift for the city.

The Minister highlighted that the station’s new design has been planned while keeping Ahmedabad’s cultural heritage in mind. The project has also received significant inputs from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the station has been designed with special stress on strength of material used in girders to manage pressure zone developed around a train moving at a speed of 350 kmph.

“The roof of the platform is also left open to manage the pressure generated,” Vaishnaw said, during the inspection of the station.

The station’s design is unique, he said, highlighting its three-levels. “The ground level, concourse level and platform level. Passengers will wait on the concourse level and the platform level,” he said.

Trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor will operate at a speed of 320 kmph covering a distance 508 Km and 12 Stations. There will be 35 trains per day/one direction, with a frequency of 20 minutes in peak hours and 30 minutes in non-peak hours.

With a limited stop (in Surat and Vadodara) service, it will cover this distance in 1 hour and 58 minutes and all stops service will take 2 hour 57 minutes. Operational Control centre for MAHSR corridor will be located at Sabarmati.

Mumbai: A fire broke out in a residential flat on the fifth floor of a six-storey building in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar area on Saturday afternoon. The incident occurred around 12:45 pm at Vikas Apartment, located behind Pant Nagar police station in Ghatkopar East. Visuals of the blaze have surfaced on the internet showing massive flames coming out of the flat’s window.

According to a media report quoting fire brigade officials, the blaze was swiftly brought under control, and no injuries were reported. A fire engine and a water tanker were dispatched to the site to carry out the firefighting operation and the flames were completely doused by 1:20 pm. The exact cause behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.

Fire On 42nd Floor Of Byculla High-rise

This incident follows another major fire that erupted on Friday morning in a high-rise residential building, Salsette 27, located on B A Road, Byculla East. The fire broke out in a flat on the 42nd floor of the 57-storey tower. The Mumbai Fire Brigade received the first alert about the blaze at approximately 10:45 am, and it was successfully extinguished by 1:10 pm. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.

According to Mumbai Fire Brigade officials, Salsette 27 is a newly constructed high-rise that is only partially occupied. The fire originated in flat number 4203, which was vacant and undergoing renovation at the time.

Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Ravindra Ambulgekar stated that while the exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined, there is a possibility that renovation work might have contributed to the incident. He also confirmed that the building’s internal firefighting system was in working condition.

Some residents reportedly evacuated the building before emergency services reached the scene, while others were safely escorted out by fire officials.