INDIA. Mumbai: The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) has accused the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) of collecting money from cine workers in the name of a proposed housing project in Karjat, Raigad district of Maharashtra.
Fraud in the name of government
The FWICE has been circulating messages on social media that it is in the process of setting up a housing complex comprising 50,000 houses on 253 acres of land at Shalu village in Karjat. The complex will be named after the father of Indian cinema Dada Saheb Phalke. 15000 BHK homes will be made available in the first phase. It will be equipped with facilities like a temple, hospital, school, and garden. The FWICE is collecting Rs. 50,000/- by demand draft or in cash from the members for registration, IMPPA President TP Aggarwal told Transcontinental Times.
Besides, the federation has been urging its members to attend its office with their wives to avail subsidies under the state and Central Government schemes. They are playing fraud in the name of the government. In the deal a lot of cine workers, technicians are being cheated. The Tahsildar and Executive Magistrate, Karjat, in a letter dated December 03, has informed us that neither such project has been applied nor the permission given. No land has been allotted to the FWICE. Despite this the federation has been collecting huge money from its members, Aggarwal alleged.
The IMPPA has also complained to Amboli police station in Andheri, North West Mumbai, demanding action under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act 1999 Act, against the federation. The act seeks to tighten the noose against financial wrongdoers.
FWICE reacts to allegations
However, reacting to allegations FWICE President B. N. Tiwari told Transcontinental Times that the federation is tied up with the Solapur-based “Ajan Homes Private Limited.” A plan to construct 782 houses in the first phase will be approved by the MahRERA soon. The houses will be constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the prime minister’s scheme to provide low-cost housing.
“Since the houses are required to be registered in the name of spouses under the PMAY, we are asking our members to fill the forms along with the spouse. Far from collecting thousands of rupees, we have not taken even Rs 100 for the form. We are trying to provide houses at a minimum cost. Unfortunately, instead of supporting this cause, the IMPPA has been creating hurdles. We are left with no option but to file a defamation suit against IMPPA”, Tiwari said.
Also Read: ‘Connecting Pathways’ – a Music Event to Boost the Cultural Ties Between Netherlands and India
But Aggarwal said that the “Ajan Homes Private Limited” was formed and registered on January 30, 2018, with the Registrar of Companies, Pune, with a share capital of Rs.1,00,000/-. The firm has no credentials on the ground and it has some small pieces of land. But they too are in a dispute. The “Ajan Homes Private Limited” did not respond to an email sent by Transcontinental Times for counter verification.
The IMPPA which used to engage cine workers through FWICE severed its ties in 2014. When IMPPA approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the alleged harassment of producers by FWICE in October 2017, the CCI rejected FWICE’s demand that the producers must engage cine workers only through it since the demand was in contravention of the Competition Act, 2002.
Recently, the FWICE had alleged that some of the IMPPA members had not paid Rs 42 crore to the cine workers. When the Art Director Raju Sapte committed suicide alleging that he was forced to commit suicide due to mental harassment by Film Studio Setting and Allied Mazdoor Union (FSSAMU), an affiliate of the FWICE in July last, some of the office-bearers of FWICE were arrested by Pune police on charges of abetment to suicide. They were later released on bail.
