given the shoddy construction work and zeroplanning the illegal homes are now turning into probable graveyards for residents with buildings crashing down like a pack of cards it seems like the civic body has turned a blind eye to this violation of the 809 civic amenity plots reserved under the development plan 509 have been encroached upon and lost to the land sharks and slum lords as there was little effort by the tmc to protect these plots a morethan willing civic officialdom too played along the bills raised for these residents are different and the tax levied on them is double the amount paid by those living in legal buildings a senior civic official said the solution lies in a complete renewal of thane and regulating construction the city has turned into an urban sprawl if such illegal activities have been taking place under the nose of the civic administration then it is not difficult to understand how the illegal constructions have flourished in thane said civil rights activists nitin deshpande most politicians are builders contractors or suppliers of construction material exploiting their clout in the civic corridors for the illegal housing business the top four floors of this apartment are illegally constructed the arrest of ncp corporator hira patil and highranking tmc officials deepak chavan shrikant sarmukadam subhas raval ramesh inamdar babasaheb adhale in the collapse of adarsh towers at shilphata is just another undisputed proof of the criminal activities going on here of the rs 253 crore property tax revenue collected every year more than rs 200 crore is paid by those living in illegal homes an elevated garden which was drawn in the plan is nowhere to be seen and the builder has evaded paying the rs 125 crore in tax to the tmc the nexus between the civic administration and politicians lording over the city is part of the folklore the answer to this lies in the state intervention by sanctioning flexible fsi which is designed as per the population density of the ward and keeping in mind the growth then years from now said a town planning official thane all that civic chief aseem gupta needs to do to understand why more than 70 of the 279 lakh homes in thane are illegal is to look out of his office window and check the 16storey sarovar darshan building which is across the street the tmc chose to ignore the violations and instead started to recover taxes from them for the amenities provided according to officials threequarter of the 20 lakh population in thane are living in unauthorized homes civic officials admitted that the administrations neglect to illegal constructions has resulted in the rot the old thane city comprising naupada kopri and uthalsar has a record of 29875 unauthorised homes as against 16634 legal housing stock