MUMBAI: Method again in 1995, Baba Siddique was an ebullient, brash, smooth-talking younger Congress corporator from Bandra West, attired in a classy pair of denims and a T-shirt when this correspondent first encountered him within the corridors of the BMC headquarters. As Mumbai’s actual property market flourished in the direction of the top of the final century, so did Siddique’s political profession and fortunes as he constructed his actual property empire.
By 1998, the brand new slum rehab coverage, providing free houses to eligible households, unveiled a brand new frontier for a number of builders who unearthed a treasure trove in prime slum properties, particularly within the western suburbs between Bandra, Khar and Santacruz, the place the late politician had a formidable affect.
Siddique was identified to be intimate with the Wadhawans of HDIL, one of many trailblazers within the area of rehabilitating slumdwellers after which utilising a portion of the plot to assemble luxurious residential towers and industrial buildings.
Among the many first important SRA tasks to be executed with Siddique’s help was Daulat Nagar slum in Santacruz West, which was redeveloped by Rakesh Wadhawan of HDIL and builder-turned-Congress politician from Rajasthan Rafique Mandelia, a detailed confidant of Siddique. Mandelia is value Rs 166 crore, in keeping with his declared property throughout final yr’s meeting elections in Rajasthan.
In 1999, Siddique contested for the meeting elections from Bandra West and gained comfortably. He was now an MLA in addition to a corporator. It was throughout this part that he turned acquainted with the workings of BMC’s constructing proposal division within the western suburbs and knew each official in thisdepartment, which permitted constructing plans. Market sources stated the previous MLA was well-informed of the information of each new tower and slum redevelopment mission in his constituency, and that no constructing occupation certificates might be procured with out his information.
In 2004, Siddique registered his building agency, Zears Builders Pvt Ltd. One of many first tasks was the Hyperlink Sq. mall within the buying district of Linking Highway in Bandra.On sixteenth Highway he redeveloped an previous society plot and constructed a residential tower referred to as Shiv-Asthan Heights. Close to Pali Naka, Bandra, the Siddiques constructed a residential highrise referred to as Maqba Heights, the place the prolonged household resides.
A luxurious tower at Bandra Reclamation, 81 Aureate, situated close to a slum, received Siddique into hassle in 2017. The Enforcement Directorate raided him for alleged cash laundering and hooked up 33 high-end residences within the constructing. The case later collapsed and the flats have been launched. A Bandra builder stated the previous MLA’s enterprise empire can be value “no less than Rs 15,000 crore”. “Not many know that he had enterprise pursuits in Dubai and London, too,” he stated. “He was useful and had buddies from all walks of life.”
