Day after order,200 buildings pulled down

Almost 200 illegal structures were razed on Thursday,a day after the Municipal Commissioner ordered his staff to demolish unauthorised construction work after giving a 24-hour notice.

Almost 200 illegal structures were razed on Thursday,a day after the Municipal Commissioner ordered his staff to demolish unauthorised construction work after giving a 24-hour notice. While officials admit that some demolitions were routine,the Municipal Commissioners seem to have expedited things.

Illegal extensions of 13 hotels in Bandras Carter Road and 183 other structures in Khar were demolished on Thursday. Of the 183 structures,six were commercial and residential structures which had illegal floors,while the rest were slums, said M M Kshirsagar,H West Assistant Municipal Commissioner. Officials said the BMCs Building Proposal (BP) Department has started a survey of unauthorised buildings and report would be presented to the Municipal Commissioner early next week. The mukadams and assistant engineers have started site inspections to identify unauthorised buildings and structures which do not have the required approvals, said a senior official of the department.

While the BP Department,responsible for issuing building permits,has been on its toes following Wednesdays order and has deployed some 70 officers for surveying,the work is on at snails pace at the ward level. We have not yet received the circular,so will not be able to decide the next course of action, said Assistant Municipal Commissioner B T Kapse.

In any case,the wards consider demolitions to be routine work. The Municipal Commissioners directive are mainly for the Building Proposal Department which is responsible for issuing Certificates of Commencement. We only demolish structures that dont have any approval, explained a senior ward official.

R W Pawar,Assistant Municipal Commissioner of K West,said: In K West there are about 293 sites where construction is currently going on and we will have to go and survey each and every building. Only then can we start the process of giving notices. Corroborating this,a senior official at BP Department officer said that though the directive says expeditious demolitions,it will be a long process before actual demolitions happen. According to estimates,there are about 2,000 ongoing construction projects in the city.

The developers,meanwhile,have started feeling the heat. The Municipal Commissioner should listen to our side of the problem rather than giving a blind order regarding demolitions. We can go to court and be granted a stay for the time being, said a developer,adding that the illegal constructions were mostly due to the delay in getting paperwork done.

Practising Engineers Architects & Town Planners Association(PEATA) president Pravin Kanekar said the municipal commissioner should give listen to their side of the story too. He should understand that as architects we do not have a big role to play in getting approvals. The thing is that in the past few days no file has been moved affecting redevelopment proposals, he said.

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BP Department officers said they have so far got no representation against the order. They will wait until they get a stop-work notice. No one wants to take the lead, said an officer.

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