The Premaya Welfare Foundation will organise a seminar for elderly people who have been abandoned by the developers after their buildings have underwent redevelopment. The seminar will educate the senior citizens about a government circular regarding this issue, and will also provide legal advice to the victims.
With numerous redevelopment projects underway in the city, a lot of apartment owners, especially senior citizens, have been left abandoned by the developers once their buildings go into redevelopment. To help these elderly people get their right share of justice, the Premaya Welfare Foundation and the Federation of Senior Citizens Clubs of Maharashtra, Mumbai Division (FESCOM) will organise a seminar on Sunday, March 31.
The seminar will educate the elderly people about the circular issued earlier this month by the Housing Department of the state government regarding a redressal committee for people abandoned by their developers. The circular has made provisions for such people to file a complaint with the grievances redressal cell, which will appoint a nodal officer to look into their issue. The seminar will educate senior citizens to make applications to the grievance redressal if their redevelopment project is at halt or they aren’t receiving the rent as per the agreement.
The seminar will be conducted at Jeshtalaya at Vazira Naka in Borivali from 10 am to 12 pm. The elderly people who participate in the seminar will also receive individual legal advice their problems by the team of advocates associated with the organisation. Sumedha Rao, advocate and founder of the Premaya Welfare Foundation said that she has received multiple complaints from people who have not been paid the rent by the builders after six months of redevelopment or their cheque bounce at the time of deposit.
“Amid all such victims, senior citizens suffer the most as they have to live elsewhere while paying rent from their own pockets. These people need their issues to be addressed but aren’t aware about government’s circular about the grievance redressal forum. Unless they know about this circular, they won’t be able to get their share of right,” said Rao.
Rao, who is a practicing lawyer with over 40 years of experience is planning to conduct this seminar at different places across the city. During the Covid pandemic, Rao had helped multiple people fill forms to receive monetary benefits against the death of their family members. Since the applicants weren’t paid their amount, Rao had also filed a public interest litigation, after which around 3.000 applicants received their money.
