BMC to raze 482 illegal shrines by August 17

Some 739 illegal religious structures were found in Mumbai, which have gone up after September 29, 2009.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally decided to initiate action against unauthorised religious structures in the city. Civic chief Ajoy Mehta has directed the civic officials to demolish 482 illegal shrines in the city before August 17, 2016, the deadline set by the court.

According to civic data, 739 illegal religious structures were found in Mumbai, which have gone up after September 29, 2009. Of them 207 belonged to the A category, whereas 532 are from B category. Category A was for those religious structures, which did not interfere with the city’s Development Plan and can be regularised. Category B were the ones which interfere with the DP.

Of the 532 B category structures, the BMC had invited suggestions and objections from people, to which it received 212 responses. The civic body held hearings on the public feedback and finalised the list of unauthorised religious structures in the city.

Accordingly, 50 illegal shrines have been removed from the demolition list owing to various reasons. Four of them have already been demolished, whereas 14 have been included in the A category, paving the way for their regularisation. Nine such structures need to be shifted to nearby or private places.

“According to HC directives, we have to remove these 482 illegal shrines before August 17. Hence, all assistant and deputy commissioners concerned have been asked to initiate the demolition action,” said a senior civic official.

A couple of months ago, the HC had pulled up the municipal authorities as well as the state government for delay in demolishing illegal religious structures across Maharashtra. The court has asked all authorities to ensure that such structures are demolished as per deadline by August 17, 2016.