Give Adarsh Building to War Widows

On By Indrajit Roy ChoudhuryIn Perspectives & Opinions

No one favours corruption. The Bombay High Court on last Friday ordered demolition of the 31-storey scam-tainted Adarsh apartments in the heart of Mumbai and sought criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for “misuse” of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed. Now, that is a lot of cement and steel and a huge multi-storeyed structure. If the High Court has found it to be a scam and now wishes to have the officers involved face criminal charges so that the anti-corruption message goes out strong and clear, so be it.

But where is the fault of the building? It is just standing tall and there will no economic benefit to the nation if it’s bulldozed to the ground besides adding a huge cloud of pollution and harassment to the neighbourhood.

Would it be less of a punishment if the Union Ministry of Defence takes over the building as is and then a panel was set up to allot the flats to the war widows for whom it was originally allotted? Take it away from the scam artists but don’t punish the building. We didn’t throw out the Bofors guns because of corruption. We used them effectively during Kargil war.

We would like to see the corrupt pay the price as much as would like to witness the war widows marching in and settling down. This will be our salute to the brave martyrs, who laid down their lives protecting the country. It also establishes a sensible precedent that illegal constructions will be taken away and made use of, not destroyed. It will be a justice for the corrupt to have to see the building prosper rather than turn it into rubble.

23 thoughts on “Give Adarsh Building to War Widows”

  1. Absolutely, it is a national waste to destroy a building that is built at a mammoth cost, there is no use pulling it down and bringing it into a rubble and the scam tainted politicians will holy hide beneath the rubble. If they need to be brought to book, then the complex has to be used in a manner that will be remembered by all! A very nice post!

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  5. Harsh Wardhan Jog

    Should be demolished to show that the corruption does not work. Those who conceived the idea to make benefit out of it & those who passed the bills etc & those who allotted these flats should be put behind the bars.

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    1. Yes sir, all the scamsters must be punished severely and put behind the bars at the earliest.

      The building was conceived to provide shelter to the Kargil war widows. Why the widows of brave heroes who sacrificed their lives for the nation be denied the shelter?

      This is my argument that the building should be taken over by the Union Ministry of Defence and set up a panel to allot these flats to war widows. Many war widows are still awaiting support and assistance. Bringing down the building will not justify the original plan to provide shelter to war widows.

      By taking over the edifice from these corrupt people involved here and punishing them through court will be an apt demonstration that corruption doesn’t work and simultaneously the noble social/national cause will be served.

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  6. Tksairam Iyer

    Indrajit, I cent percent endorse your views. Absolutely correct. Pull down the structure and you have bunch of land sharks eagerly awaiting to grab it and erect yet another illegal behemoth for commercial gains.

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  7. Biswajit Banerjee

    I understand that there is some serious violation of environmental guidelines and thus the building did not receive environmental clearance. The moot question is if the violation is of serious nature, can there be a ground for allowing the violation as it is regardless of the fact that the flats are allotted to kins of martyrs.

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    1. The Bombay High Court ordered demolition of the 31-storey scam-tainted Adarsh apartments in the heart of Mumbai and sought criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for “misuse” of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed.

      As per CAG Report: “The episode of Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society reveals how a group of select officials, placed in key posts, could subvert rules and regulations in order to grab prime government land – a public property – for personal benefit.”

      The building may not be demolished just because it was illegally constructed, perhaps it should be confiscated from the illegal and corrupt owners and put it into a proper use for social good. The corrupt people must be punished severely ASAP.

      Yes Biswajit, there are allegations of environmental violations from MoEF. Unless it’s needed to be demolished under “green” laws, in my opinion, the building, to the permitted extent, should be put to use for the social benefit instead of just demolishing it.

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      1. Renu Sharma

        Dialogue between two friends but has lot of material and makes sense after all the two brilliant gems who quitted since good sense prevailed upon them. God bless.

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  9. Such a sensible thought. I am not into politics, but really hate bureaucrats taking their work for granted and not doing anything worthwhile for citizens.
    If we indeed have to spread a lesson, punish the guilty. Alas, that hardly happens!

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  10. We have seen many cases of corruption being caught and suitable rectification measures taken, including punishment for guilty. That gives us hope. What you suggest is a great idea but it is quite possible that options like letting the building stand were considered and there were other compelling reasons to order demolition.

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