South Mumbai highrise NOC: File with fire department’s note goes missing

MUMBAI: The file comprising recommendation from a deputy chief fire officer to cancel the NOC granted to an under-construction highrise at Walkeshwar in Malabar Hill has mysteriously gone missing from the chief fire officer’s cabin.
TOI on April 12 had reported that the Mumbai fire brigade had recently found discrepancies in the project and it had asked the BMC’s building proposals department to revoke the NOC because of ambiguity in the open spaces seen on inspection of the site and the approved plan.
Already, a four-level basement, a ground floor and 10 floors have been built by a developer behind the Dani Sadan Cooperative Housing Society on Walkeshwar Road. The approved plan is for 12 floors.
In the February 20 letter, deputy chief fire officer P Rahangdale wrote to deputy municipal commissioner Narendra Barde stating that the file, which comprised a report to revoke the building’s NOC, had been sent to the cabin of the chief fire officer (CFO), A Verma. But it had come to light after inquiry with peons and staff that the file had disappeared. The file contained a report by assistant divisional fire officer Santosh Sawant and Rahangdale seeking revocation of the NOC dated March 29, 2008.
“We have no idea about the internal politics. Whether they are shielding the official who issued the NOC or the builder? Also whether it was a genuine misplacement or deliberate? When we met Verma, he said he was not authorized to sign it, then he said he couldn’t find it. He said he will direct his staff to make a duplicate report,” said Preeti Mehta, a resident of Dani Sadan society.
Residents have filed an RTI and probe on the missing file is underway. Verma is on leave and could not be contacted.