Dinesh Kamath's column 'Inside Navi Mumbai' (1) that was published in Newsband

Inside Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Is Ulwe the right place to invest in?

Ulwe is hot realty investment destination. This place is located 4 km from Nerul in Navi Mumbai. It will be a hot residential property investment destination in the next five years.

A survey indicates that by 2017, the property price appreciation will be 145% in Ulwe. There are the several reasons for Ulwe to top the realty investment destination list. The proposed railway connectivity from Ulwe to Seawood, the new airport, Trans Harbour Sea Link and the availability of the parcel of land will help hike rates making Ulwe another Vashi in the next five years.

Though not a single building has been built or approved, plots in Ulwe are being sold for Rs 3,500 to Rs 4, 000/sqft. Once the system is put in place, the rates will jump leaving behind all the so-called residential investment destinations, such as Panvel and Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.

The above information are given by the researchers. But some local real estate agents and buyers urged realty agencies to stop fooling gullible buyers by their biased survey reports.

Now whom should we believe? Should we take the words of researchers seriously or should the local real estate agents be believed? Are these researchers scaring the buyers so that they buy the property in Ulwe at once? The fear that rates of plots might rise in the coming days can make many buyers purchase the land in Ulwe immediately. This could be what the researchers want. May be these researchers are hired by a group of real estate agents who want new ways of attracting customers towards Ulwe. There are people outside Navi Mumbai who are speculating whether Panvel, Kharghar or Ulwe would be the right place to invest at. These researchers could be playing a trick to divert the attentions of these people away from Panvel and Kharghar and attract them towards Ulwe.

But if these researchers are speaking the truth then undoubtedly Ulwe is the best place to invest for any property buyer.

Will farmers accept government’s offer?

Picture of CIDCO

In order to break the deadlock between the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and farmers, whose land will be acquired for the development of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, the state government has decided to offer them almost 22.5% developed land against the conventional norm of 12.5%.

Earlier the leaders who were representing these farmers were demanding either 50% developed land or Rs 20 crore per acre plus government jobs for the farmers’ relatives. They had next placed a final demand of 33% developed land.

The government is now prepared to offer to these farmers the earlier 12.5% and an additional 10% developed land or current market rate of the land/ready reckoner rate, whichever is higher.

These offers do appear to be practical and lucrative. But will the farmers accept the offer? If the farmers accept the offer will there be a danger of these farmers getting added to the already existing project affected persons (PAPs). Will the government honestly part with the developed land or will they keep the farmers waiting like the PAPs are doing now? The farmers should learn from the experiences of project affected persons who are at present awaiting justice and so they should take the next step with utmost care. The plight of the project affected persons has taught many a lesson that one should be very careful while making any deal with the state government or CIDCO. One should not straight away agree with government’s offer but first and foremost ensure that government keeps its words. So this is a very delicate situation for the farmers who are asked to part with their lands for development of the airport and hence they should take the next step with utmost caution.    

 

Prevent cases of dacoity rather than solve them

Four unidentified men robbed a jewellery store at Kamothe, Navi Mumbai and fled with Rs 50,000 cash. The armed men assaulted the store's employee with the butt of a gun. One of them threatened two traffic police constables with a firearm after the stolen Toyota Innova in which they were travelling was stopped during a nakabandi in Rabale. Later the accused fled in different directions. The police were on the look out for the SUV that was used by the robbers in Kamothe. When the four saw the policemen at Rabale, they quickly got off the vehicle and fled after threateningly showing the pistol to the traffic cops. The Innova car was reportedly stolen and was affixed with a fake number plate by the robbers to carry out the crime. The suspects hail from south India and are in their early 30s. The stolen SUV belongs to a Juhu resident and the accused had installed fake number plates. The probe is still going on.

Jewellery shops in Navi Mumbai are under constant threat of being targeted by dacoits. This is not the first time that looters have entered a jewellery shop and fled with valuables. What surprises many is the fact that neither the owners of the jewellery shops nor the city police are learning from their bitter experiences. Many jewellery shop owners have indeed become clever enough to install CCTV cameras and microphones in their shops. But is that enough? Do the looters care about the fact that they are captured by the cameras? They coolly come with the weapons, threaten the shop owner and run away with the loot. Now weapons can only be tackled by weapons. So these shop owners should recruit armed security guards who will be in a position to negotiate successfully the armed dacoits. Even policemen should focus on jewellery shops particularly during the time of patrolling. In fact, more policemen should be posted in the vicinities of jewellery shops since these are places towards which the dacoits are most attracted. Only such drastic measures can scare the miscreants who are intending to loot the jewellery shops.