BMC has till December 31 to remove illegal hutments along pipelines

The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted the BMC time till December 31 to remove illegal hutments along both sides of pipelines supplying water to the city. The court was hearing an application filed by the civic body in a pending PIL of 2006, seeking action against illegal encroachments near water pipelines in the city. The PIL was filed in HC after a report claimed that over 33,000 people — many with ration cards — were living in shanties on pipelines bringing water to the metropolis and were therefore meant to be heavily guarded by the BMC’s 3,000-strong security force.

BMC counsel told the division bench headed by Justice A.S. Oka that the civic body was removing illegal hutments in a phase-wise manner and it was at stage three of the process so they required more time to complete the job. Following this, the court granted them time till December 31 this year.

In 2009, the high court had ordered removal of over 15,000 hutments, which were located on water pipelines or adjacent to them. It may be recalled that HC had in the past directed the commissioner of police, Mumbai, to provide appropriate security to the demolition squad of the BMC that was scheduled to pull down shanties as they faced several objections from these slum dwellers. The HC had also slammed the civic body for its inability to secure pipelines encroached by 25,000 slum-dwellers with 15,000 legal hutments.

The 400-km water pipelines are located from Mulund to Powai, Powai to Bandra via Dharavi and Sahar, Powai to Sion via Ghatkopar, and Mulund to Sion on the Eastern E-way.