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Journalism of Courage
In letters written to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, the former corporator of Antop Hill, Lalita Yadav, has sought the disqualification of incumbent corporator Mangesh Satamkar, on charges of submitting a false affidavit and for encroaching public land. Obtaining relevant documents through the Right to Information Act (RTI), she has alleged that Satamkar, a Shiv Sena corporator, has carried out illegal construction of an eatery named ‘Annadata Aahar Kendra’ in a public park and has also received relevant permissions from the Mumbai Police for running it till 1.30 am; the Registration Certificate of Establishment; and even from the Health department of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).
“Despite being illegal, the eatery has received permissions from all the authorities. This shows how he has used his power to get his way around the law,” said Lalita Yadav, who lost the civic body election earlier this year, by a margin of 477 votes. “The Health Officer of the Municipal Corporation also has taken cognisance of the said unauthorised construction but till date no notice of unauthorised construction has been issued nor action has been taken against Mangesh Satamkar,” states the letter written on May 19.
Raising objection to the 600 sq ft encroachment with an additional floor, the Congress member has contended that Satamkar should be disqualified from his post under Section 16(1D) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act of 1988, which states that if a corporator constructs encroachments he should be disqualified.
Yadav further alleges Satamkar submitted false information in his affidavit for the Mumbai civic elections of 2017. Listing five of his agricultural properties from Shirgaon in Raigad district Yadav alleges that these, along with some properties in the name of his dependents, were not disclosed in his affidavit.
On June 26, Yadav submitted another complaint to the Commissioner with a document obtained by RTI from the MCGM stating that “BMC has not given any permission for the construction of Zunka Bhakar Kendra/ Annadata Aahar Kendra carried out at Municipal Garden.” Copies of the electricity bill, telephone bill, water bill and health licence of the eatery were also attached. However, Yadav claims that no action has been taken against Satamkar. Meanwhile, Satamkar has closed his eatery and cleared the structure.
“Despite several complaints, the BMC has not sent them a notice for demolition and instead only writes him letters. They are protecting him and also helped him to remove the encroachment,” said Kacharu Yadav, the complainant’s husband.
Responding to the allegations, Satamkar said: “The shop was allocated to me in 1997 under the state government’s Zunka Bhakar policy. We have all the documents to prove the allotment. It was there for so many years but now MCGM is demolishing all establishments around the Tansa pipeline. So we also removed it four to five months back.”
“We had received a complaint and on the basis of that we sent a notice to Satamkar. However, he cleared the structure on his own, around two months ago. Also the structure was not illegal as it had the collector’s permission. However, it was near the Tansa pipeline so it had to be cleared,” said Keshav Ubale, Assistant Commissioner F/North ward.
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