‘Illegal’ Sena (UBT) shakha in Bandra East bulldozed by BMC

The shakha, located in Bandra East’s Nirmal Nagar locality, adjacent to railway tracks, was established in 2002. Most of its members were local residents who lived in slum areas nearby.

Demolition of the Shiv Sena ( UBT ) shakha underway in Nirmal Nagar next to the Bandra railway station. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Demolition began Thursday morning in the presence of heavy police security.

Haji Halim Khan, a former corporator and currently a member of Sena’s Thackeray faction said that last week members from the Shinde faction had asked him to join their side. “Being the former local corporator, this shakha falls under my jurisdiction. Last week, members of the Shinde faction asked me to join their team and contest the upcoming civic elections with them. I refused their offer, following which they threatened that our shakha will be pulled down by civic officials,” Khan told The Indian Express on Thursday.

He said that two weeks ago, a new shakha was opened 300 metres away by state minister Uday Samant from the Shinde faction.

“All documents of our shakha establish our legality, but BMC officials were reluctant to cooperate with us. Ironically, the new Shakha created by reclaiming a drain was deemed legal just because it belongs to the Shinde faction.

While civic officials remained tight-lipped about the demolition drive, an official requesting anonymity said, “We had served a notice to this shakha’s office bearers to voluntarily take down unauthorised portions of the office. The office was flouting norms in its operations, so we had to demolish it.”

“Currently a road widening project will be taken up, for which we are removing a few adjoining shanties along with this shakha, which are falling within the alignment of the proposed road,” the official added.

It is pertinent to note that earlier on Wednesday, the Sena (UBT) had announced a protest march at BMC headquarters under Aaditya Thackeray’s leadership, to protest against corruption in the civic headquarters.