BMC razes illegal structures

Major roads in Bandra and Khar have now been made free of all encroachments. In one of its major demolition drives, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday removed a large number of encroachments built by stall owners at various roads in Bandra and Khar.

The demolition drive was carried out on roads such as Linking Road, Patwardhan Garden, SV Road, Telephone Exchange, 33rd and 34th Khar Road in H-West ward.

According to the civic officials, 174 stall owners had encroached upon additional space by putting up illegal extensions with the help of bamboo, tarpaulin sheets, cement panes, among others. In addition to this, 74 stall owners had also raised flaps, canopies in front of their stalls.

“These illegal extensions were creating obstacles for pedestrians walking on the footpaths. We had received several complaints about them from local residents. We not only demolished these extensions, but also seized goods kept in these encroached places,” said Sharad Ughade, assistant commissioner, H-West ward.

The goods seized during the demolition drive have been deposited in the godown of P-South ward, said civic officials.

Civic activists have expressed satisfaction over the civic body’s drive. “The BMC needs to be praised for the action they have taken against these encroachments,” said Anil Joseph, chairman of Perry Road Residents Association. “I was driving by on Linking Road on Wednesday morning and saw civic officials carrying out the demolition job on a grand scale. For last 10 years we had been banging our heads against the wall demanding action against these encroachments. The BMC has finally heard our pleas,” he added.

The BMC’s drive comes on the heels of civic chief Ajoy Mehta’s directives to deal strictly with illegal constructions in the city. Following this, the civic body has started

removing encroachments on roads and footpaths erected by shops and restaurants.The civic chief has instructed all 24 administrative officials to make the streets in Mumbai pedestrian friendly. Under this plan, the ward officers have been instructed to immediately clear all commercial encroachments on footpaths, which would not involve any litigation.