History OF Thane Housing Federation

With a beautiful idea in mind, a human being sets out in search of a home. In just three words, security, contentment, and stability can be described as a home. Your family can be safe. You can get everything you need and share your happiness and joy in it. Holding a dream in such a crooked path, a dreamer sets out towards Mumbai on a hopeful note, in search of bread, clothes, and a house. He reaches here. But after coming here, he realizes that in the city of Mumbai, bread and clothes can be achieved immediately with his hard work, but the dream of a house is like a house, for which he has to endure many hardships and expectations, and then his dream may come true.

In the post-independence period, the stages of transition in Mumbai generally started in 1950. The Mumbai region started developing on a large scale. The boundaries of Mumbai city were fixed over time. Since the north-eastern boundary of North-East Mumbai is Mulund, people generally migrated to the neighboring cities of Thane in the 1980s-90s. Everyone was attracted to Thane city because it is an ancient city, as mentioned in ancient texts. Also, Thane city was a city of lakes, and its natural beauty attracted everyone. There are many ancient temples and tourist places here. During this time, the federation of Mumbai and Thane District Co-operative Housing Federation Limited, Mumbai, was divided, and from it, Thane District Co-operative Housing Federation came into existence as a federation for independent Thane on 1 August 1981. During this period, the Thane district was newly developing, so there was a need for a federation of independent housing societies in the Thane district. There are a total of 13 talukas in Thane district, including Thane, Vasai, Palghar, Talasari, Dahanu, Mokhada, Bhiwandi, Wada, Shahapur, Murbad, Kalyan, Dombivli, and Ulhasnagar. Over time, Palghar district became independent, and Palghar and Dahanu became independent from Thane district. A large number of building complexes were built in these cities. Due to the cooperative principle, the common citizens started to trust the housing societies, so they started to look for a dream house in Thane. Over time, the work of housing construction was taken over by builders and developers, and the government announced a new housing policy by converting the agricultural land of the local residents into non-agricultural.

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In this, cooperative societies of flat buyers were established in the government's cooperative department, and the lives of the members living in them became easier because, in order to establish the management of cooperative housing societies in a systematic, orderly, and according to the manner, the bye-laws of cooperative housing societies were prepared and amended from time to time. On occasions, the government court continuously supported The Thane District Co-operative Housing Federation Ltd.

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The Thane District Co-operative Housing Federation Ltd. has completed 43 years. We will have to go back 43 years and experience what Thane city would be like 43 years ago, after the first one. Thane district bore the brunt of the growing population of Mumbai, and along with it, the Thane district administration paid attention to the problems of housing societies from time to time. The honor of becoming the first president of the Thane District Co-operative Housing Federation Ltd. was given to the late Prof. Dattatray Shripad Borwankar. Honorable Borwankar Saheb was a lawyer by profession and the founder of a law college. When the Thane Housing Federation was established, the number of member societies of the federation was 684. As the functioning of the societies progressed in Thane district, the functioning of the housing societies changed.

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Under the leadership of the late Prof. Dattatray Shripad Borwankar, many cooperative societies in Thane district got cooperative leadership. He introduced the initials of the societies to the board of directors of the cooperative housing societies. The society was provided with a copy of the bye-laws, various application proceedings, registration, constitutional register, etc., as required by law. He played the role of trustee in introducing essential stationery, guiding the members of the member organization and organizing seminars and gatherings for cooperative housing societies, as well as guiding cooperative housing societies for registration of the organization and amending its by-laws, amendments to the law, amendments to various issues of the society and for almost 27 years he and his board of directors did excellent work, after which in the five-yearly elections of the federation held on 10th February 2008, the incumbent president Shri. Sitaram Baji Rane led the election under his leadership. Instead of Borvankar, a new leadership emerged under the leadership of Shri. Sitaram Rane. He took charge of the organization, and the number of housing societies was 6200. After being elected for the first time, he was given the responsibility of the post of president. He was accompanied by Rathi-Maharathi of the cooperative and social sectors. During his period, he studied the needs and problems of ordinary member organizations, learned all the nuances, and brought the federation to fame despite not having the experience of the post of president. He gradually started to gain control over the administration. As the population increased, the number of cooperative housing societies also increased. During this period, this number increased by hundreds of times every year. During this period, the Federation was facing problems like daily management, elections, transfers, parking, nominations, etc. The general members were facing problems like 'Housing Herald'. To solve all these complaints and problems, a quarterly named 'Housing Herald' was started in the beginning. Over time, it was published as a monthly. Meanwhile, Thane Housing Federation and Mr. Sitaram Rane Saheb have a great role in implementing the innovative concept of deemed conveyance (deemed conveyance) through the state government. Because the societies were registered, the flat buyers got an assured right. But the government amended the Act 1963 (MOFA) to transfer the ownership and rights of land in the name of cooperative housing societies, and the property rights of flats, and provided the facility of deemed conveyance to the societies. But to enjoy those legal rights, a list of terms and conditions was prepared. In which 39 types of documents were initially included. Initially, most of the societies tried to take advantage of this scheme, but while collecting the documents, they started taking them to their noses. Meanwhile, the trumpet of the federation elections sounded. Mr. Rane Saheb formed the 'Samarth Sahakar' panel by bringing together new independent and trusted people and general elections were held on 2nd August, 2015. In that election, in the face of difficult circumstances, all the member organizations of Thane district voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Sitaram Rane's 'Samarth Sahakar' panel. After being elected, as promised, an independent system was created for education and training for the members of the federation. During this period, Hon. Hon. Shri. Subhashji Deshmukh, Minister of Cooperation, inaugurated the training center of the federation. On the occasion of the inauguration, Hon. Deshmukh Saheb expressed his appreciation for the work of Thane Housing Federation.

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Shri. When Sitaram Rane was again in trouble, he took up the issues of housing societies, civic amenities, environmental protection, honorable transfer, grievance redressal cell for members, legal information and advice to the members of the federation, energy saving, organic fertilizer production, security guard schemes, emergency measures, as well as the reconstruction and self-reconstruction regulations of the buildings of cooperative housing societies in Thane district, as they were old. In the meantime, he gave a glimpse of his leadership, like the Phoenix parties, raising his own image and becoming the president of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Housing Federation, which has a respectable point, director of Maharashtra State Co-operative Housing Finance Ltd., the financial source of housing finance institutions, and director of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Council. During this time, his career continued as an advisor to the oldest cooperative union in Thane, 'Samarth Bhandar'.

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During the Corona pandemic, many housing societies took the initiative and organized many programs. In this, they implemented very effective activities based on the concept of 'no profit, no loss' by collecting clothes, medicines, essential groceries, fruits, and other essential goods for the members of the housing society, managers, and other employees. They provided medical services to many people by providing medical supplies, equipment, and occasionally with the help of medical experts in the clubhouse premises of the housing societies. They felicitated women on the occasion of International Women's Day, and gradually, the vine planted by the late Dattatray Shripad Borvankar, who created an institution that truly energizes housing societies, was transformed into a banyan tree by Mr. Sitaram Rane. As times changed, once again, in the general elections of the federation held in January 2023, according to democratic principles, the opposition Parivartan Panel was defeated resoundingly and its panel was elected. The period from 1981 to 2023 was 42 years, during which Thane city expanded to a large extent. Also, the work of the federation has increased significantly. Today, an important question is on the agenda. It includes apathy among the members of the organization regarding the management of the organization, some issues especially parking, stilt parking, pet issues, leakage, misuse of the organization, mismanagement, encroachment on open space, ignorance of the bye-laws, problems of complaining members, court judgments, transfer, complex issues that are expected to be resolved by the organizations, while the federation as the parent organization has a great responsibility. When can the federation, in the form of a representative, raise questions with the central government on municipal, local issues, ministries, courts, state governments, or solve them with the cooperation of all of you? Currently, the burning questions that the Thane district has experienced are the issue of transfer of property, redevelopment, various types of taxes, as well as redevelopment without a builder, and the funds and allocation required for it.