No CRZ nod for two floors, admits Siddhivinayak trust

MUMBAI: Chief minister Ashok Chavan has been vindicated with the Siddhivinayak temple trust admitting that the top two floors of the five-storeyed Pratikshalay building, part of the temple complex, do not have CRZ permission.
The Rs 15-crore building was to have been inaugurated by Union agriculture minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday evening with Chavan as the chief guest.When Chavan realised that there were irregularities in the structure, he pulled out so as not to get entangled in a controversy. And, Pawar followed suit.
TOI was the first to report about the cancellation of the inauguration and the reason behind it.
Trust chairman Subhash Mayekar of the Congress admitted on Friday that the top two floors have not yet received the Union ministry of environment and forests’s approval. “We had 1.33 FSI with which we built three floors. This was approved by the environment ministries in Mumbai and New Delhi. Since we got additional FSI, we decided to raise the structure to five floors. We received permission from the state, but not from the Centre. But, I am confident securing that permission too,” Mayekar told TOI.
One of the trustees observed that it was illegal to build the additional floors without the permission of BMC’s building proposals department. And, this permission can be obtained only after getting an NOC from the Union ministry of environment. The architect for the project is Sandeep Shikre.
Devotees are upset that the temple is being dragged into a controversy and that too on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi. Said Abhilash Jani, a regular devotee: “In the first place, politicians should not be made trustees of temples. They reduce them to political akhadas.” It is reliably learnt that some of the trustees of Siddhivinayak temple are very critical of Mayekar’s style of functioning.
One of them said, “I must admit that the temple is not managed properly. There is tremendous scope for improvement and introduction of transperancy. Also, the safety aspect needs to be looked into seriously.” City Congressmen are, in private, pleased at the turn of events since the cancellation of the inauguration by Pawar has caused enormous embarrassment to NCP.