Rubble tells the story of a thriving illegal construction business

“The scale of illegal construction is huge in these areas. However,since the people who reside in such unauthorised construction are aware of the illegality,and are desperate to stay there at any cost,they do not approach us fearing it will lead to demolition of the structure,” said Vilas Jagdale,Deputy Superintendent of Police,of the Thane unit of the ACB.

On January 23,the Thane ACB arrested superintendent ward officer Shyam Pandurang Thorbole,of wards 63,64 and 65 in Diva for accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh. It also arrested police constables Rajendra Mohita and R Bhalerao for accepting Rs 50,000 as bribe.

“The police bandobast for demolition is completely different from the TMC set up. But in this case,the constables and the TMC official would conduct surveys of illegal chawls,hutments and buildings,and would threaten people saying they would demolish the structure unless they were paid money. If the residents refused,they would get a contractor to send a tempo and demolish part of the structure. Out of fear,the residents would then strike a deal for the other rooms not to be demolished,” said Jagdale.

“In this case,the accused had demolished two rooms of a chawl in Diva. However,facing harassment,the complainant decided to approach the ACB. We laid a trap and first arrested the police constables accepting Rs 50,000. The constables led us to Thorbole,who was arrested on accepting Rs 1 lakh. We informed the TMC about the illegal chawl that had come up,” Jadgdale said.