Flat-owners on forest land to pay up for clear title

Mumbai: Fed up of waiting endlessly for a final resolution, residents on private forest land have decided to pay the differential amount that has been demanded of them by the state government. 

    The decision has been taken following an assurance from revenue and forest department principal secretary Pravin Pardeshi that once the differential amount is paid the government will ensure that they get a clear title to the land on which their housing societies stand. 
    At a meeting with the Hillside Residents Welfare Association two weeks ago, Pardeshi told the residents that the matter would not move forward unless they paid the differential amount for afforestation. He told TOI the government would ensure that the regularization was completed under the Forest Conservation Act. Residents vow to continue fight 
    Revenue and forest department principal secretary Pravin Pardeshi said residents on had been advised to pay the differential amount as sought by the state government. "We will move the matter before the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) under the Forest Conservation Act,'' he said. 
    The department will set up a cell where residents can submit their documents and pay the differential amount. Notices have already been issued to residents. 
    Earlier, residents and builders were charged between Rs 6 and Rs 120 per sq feet on the recommendationsof thecentralempowered committee set up by the Supreme Court. This was increased by 50%, taking the minimum amount to Rs 9 per sq feet. The controversy arose after the government collected money Rs 100 crore from residents and builders after declaring the private forest land as barren land. This money was collected in 2010 but the state government failed to inform the MoEF that it had decided to charge based on the classification of the land as barren. 
    When it approached the MoEF as directed by the Supreme Court for regularization of constructions, the latter raised objections saying the land could not be classified as barren as it adjoins the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is a dense forest. The government was directed to reclassify the land and charge the net present value based on the "dense forest'' classification. 
    "Initially the net present value was calculated as Rs 7.3 lakh per hectare as the land was classified as barren but now that it has been corrected to dense forest it is Rs 9.39 lakh per hectare,'' said revenue officials, adding residentswere not being charged the cost of the land which would take the net present value still higher. 
    For two years, residents were defiant, hopeful that a three-member Supreme Court bench would rule in their favour. But not a single hearing has been held. Their patience exhausted, a majority want the matter to be resolved. 
    Prakash Paddikal, president, HIRWA, added that after a clearance from the MoEF, the matter would still go before the Supreme Court. "We are not going to withdraw our case as we want a clear verdict on this contentious issue,'' he said.

In 2001, 2.57 lakh hectares near Sanjay Gandhi National Park were declared forest land, resulting in builders and residents in areas like Borivli, Thane and Mulund moving court. In 2009, an SC panel asked those affected to pay afforestation charges to get their flats regularized