Illegal constructions, renovations and alterations in buildings, or major structural changes to them, are carried out in collusion with lower level municipal staff and their seniors, often with the blessings of the local corporator
From clicking photographs of staged demolitions in which a makeshift wall is propped up and pulled down, to filing closure reports, getting RTI activists to file queries before bribes are sought to ignore irregularities, or outrightly demanding a hefty amount for ‘higher-ups’, various methods are employed to extract money and remove any hurdles to illegal alterations or renovations in buildings.
Illegal constructions, renovations and alterations in buildings, or major structural changes to them, are carried out in collusion with lower level municipal staff and their seniors, often with the blessings of the local corporator. Such illegalities largely remain unnoticed, and in cases where they are reported to authorities, only cosmetic and temporary action is taken. The strategy may differ from ward to ward, but is executed according to a tried and tested plan. In some wards, staff from the Buildings and Factory Department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are hand-in-glove with the middlemen, and their own contractors carry out unauthorised construction.
A regular modus operandi employed by corrupt civic staff involves spotting debris in the premises of a private building, and sending staff members to conduct spot supervision. The next step in the process is to prop up a small-time RTI activist, who is made to file a plea seeking information in such cases. Based on this RTI request, the civic staff may serve 48 hours notice or a week’s notice to the person carrying out the alterations or renovations to state his stand.
Meanwhile, the concerned person in whose building the unauthorised work or renovation is on, will approach a lower court and get a stay on any civic action against him.
Based on this stay, the municipal staff will not further intervene as the work continues unabated. A deal is then struck, and for the sake of the records, some staff members visit the site and demolish a makeshift wall or a dummy wall or pillar, click photographs of the purported action, and submit a closure report. This is done after extracting a few lakh rupees from the individual under scrutiny.
Participating in a debate in the state assembly on Wednesday, BJP legislator and former minister of state for housing Raj Purohit alleged that civic officers take money to regularise unauthorised constructions.
These corrupt practices take place under the nose of two officers of the rank of junior engineer who are exclusively appointed in each ward with powers to keep a watch on such activities and initiate necessary action.
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