R/South (Kandivali) has emerged as the ward having the highest number of eating houses (150) against whom the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken action in its current drive against illegal alterations in city restaurants.
Following the major fire at City Kinara restaurant in Kurla, in which eight people lost their lives, the civic body has decided to act strictly against illegal structures in city eating houses. As a part of the move, unauthorised extensions, which were found in these famous food outlets in the city, were razed. According to civic data, from October 19 to November 5 the civic body has inspected about 2,600 eating houses across the city. Of them, action has been taken against 2,133 eateries for violating municipal rules and fire safety norms.
The BMC has also seized 1,936 gas cylinders in the drive. During the drive, the illegal extensions set up in these eating houses were demolished. A few service counters of these restaurants that were found projecting on the footpath have been removed and all their articles have also been seized.R/South ward was followed by G/North (Dadar, Mahim) and E (Byculla) wards with 148 and 132 such eateries respectively.
The maximum illegal cylinders have been seized from the P/North (Malad) ward.“During the drive, we found several eating houses had illegally stored gas cylinders much above their capacity. There were illegal constructions and shades in some of the restaurants. While these alterations have been removed, the fire safety measures have also been checked stringently,” said a senior civic official.
According to officials, while a majority of violation were found in grade III eateries, irregularities were found in grade I restaurants too. Major anomalies like absence of fire NoC, using the mezzaninefloor for service purposes, lack of fire fighting equipment and fire extinguishers, additional alterations in premises, fire norms not being complied with, operating without fire and health licence, were found in these eating houses, said civic officials.
