A month after the Kamala Mills fire tragedy, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner and his team are gathering documents to prove how space earmarked for IT offices were turned to restaurants in the area. BMC chief Ajoy Mehta has sought three months to conduct a detailed survey on the Kamala Mills Compound to investigate alleged misuse of Floor Space Index (FSI) incentives. He said: “The actual probe will begin once we finish our ground work of gathering papers that will prove violation of IT policy and misuse of FSI incentives.” Mehta’s report on the December 29 Kamala Mills mishap states there is a “possibility of violations” of FSI and IT policy. Referring to it, the commissioner has sought three months to investigate the “possible violations”, including “change in activity” and "construction beyond approval”. The report explains in detail that the proposal of addition and alteration on the Kamala Mills Compound was approved as per the modernisation scheme approved by the BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction). The owner chose to go for additional FSI as per the IT policy of Maharashtra. Thus, Kamala Mills Ltd had received an incentive FSI of 1.33 in addition to zonal FSI. The incentive is given when the entire built-up area is to be used for IT and IT enabled Services (ITeS) users. There is provision for use of 20 per cent incentive area as commercial use area. “There is a possibility that the Kamala Mills Ltd has used commercial areas beyond this permissible limit. This needs to be verified in a detail survey and investigation jointly conducted by BMC and department of IT of government of Maharashtra. It is also observed that there may be further violations of FSI and additional alteration done without requisite approvals/permissions in other activities carried out within the compound,” Mehta’s report stated. Mehta said: “There is a possibility of violation on the premises. We have to prove it first before arriving at any conclusion. For that, we have to first establish how spaces for IT offices were turned into restaurants.” Action taken since December 29 Its been a month since the BMC formed 52 teams with 1,000 workers for demolishing illegal constructions by restaurants in all 24 administrative wards. During the drive that started in the aftermath of the Kamala Mills tragedy, the BMC has inspected 5,461 restaurants and commercial establishments. Demolition action has been taken against over 1,000 of them. Over 3,000 restaurants were issued Inspection Reports. Meanwhile, 1,965 illegally stored LPG cylinders have been seized.
