The corporations' demolition squad moved into action and started levelling residential houses and a small factory at Vijay Nagar, in the Dhobighat area, around 10am.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers razed 10 illegal structures on Monday afternoon, which were constructed atop a nullah in Dharavi.
The corporations' demolition squad moved into action and started levelling residential houses and a small factory at Vijay Nagar, in the Dhobighat area, around 10am.
According to a BMC official, the said structures were marked illegal during a survey carried out during the BMC's pre-monsoon drive. Occupants had built two- to three-storey structures on the nullah, thus choking it and causing a block.
"Notices were given in advance to vacate these structures immediately. Today, after they failed to adhere to the notice, we demolished all the earmarked buildings that were obstructing the passage of the nullah," BMC officer (G-North ward) Kamlakar Chavan said.
Two bulldozers and six dumper trucks were pressed into action, covered by three units of the local police and a State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) team.
There were minor incidents of stone-pelting as well, with irked locals smashing the windshields of dumper trucks. But the police ensured that the drive was carried out successfully in the end.
However, around 100 locals, including women, blocked the demolition of the Kalimata-Mariyamma Mandir in the locality, as ordered by the BMC.
The temple, marked as illegal by the civic body, was also constructed on the top of the nullah.
Women locked themselves inside the temple, preventing the bulldozers from razing the structure.
Finally, the demolition drive on the temple was relaxed for the day, with the BMC giving a five-day extension to the locals to shift the idols inside.
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