BMC razes encroachments for Mahim Fort restoration

Residents of houses that came up in the 1960s and 1970s are being treated as project-affected persons. The BMC has given alternate accommodation in PAP tenements in Malad and Kurla to families whose houses were demolished on Thursday.

Residents of houses that came up in the 1960s and 1970s are being treated as project-affected persons. The BMC has given alternate accommodation in PAP tenements in Malad and Kurla to families whose houses were demolished on Thursday.

The restoration project was planned by the civic body in 2021 at the behest of the then minister of tourism Aaditya Thackeray. The Mahim fort is spread across an area of 3,796 sqm . In November 2021, the BMC carried out a survey to determine the number of encroachments in its precinct that will have to be demolished for the project.

The fort is owned by the customs department. In 2021, when the restoration of the precinct was first planned, BMC held meetings with the customs department for coordination during the project. The civic official said, “In December, we had the final meeting with the customs department. Once all the structures are demolished, a memorandum of understanding will be signed with the department so that BMC can carry out the restoration.”

BMC will then appoint a heritage consultant to survey the area and come up with a detailed project report on restoration and cost, the official said. At the time of the survey of hutments in 2021, BMC had also found that the structural integrity of the fort is likely to have been compromised due to large-scale encroachments around it.