Mumbai: BMC starts drive to raze illegal structures

After drawing severe flak following the death of 13 people in the collapse of Kesarbai building in Dongri, the civic body on Saturday started a demolition drive to pull down unauthorised construction in the B ward. On Day 1, BMC hammers fell on two structures – one on Samuel Street and the other on Mohammad Ali Road.

The efforts to curb illegal construction in buildings in the ward, which has jurisdiction over areas including Dongri, Masjid, Bhendi Bazar, came after an RTI application revealed that the civic body had registered 928 complaints about illegal construction in the area since March 2016, but razed only 87.

This had prompted corporators cutting across party line to demand action against the malpractice. At a meeting of the BMC's standing committee, corporator Makarand Navrekar alleged that he had informed the corporation about five instances of illegal construction in B ward last month. To this, civic chief Praveen Pardeshi replied, "We will take action against the unauthorised work within 24 hours."

"The structure 348/350 on Samuel Street had built an extra floor on the rooftop, while hotel al-haram on E Merchant Road too had an illegal extension," said Vinayak Vispute, assistant municipal commissioner. Both the structures were in the list provided by Narvekar.