Bhujbal held for obstructing demolition drive

MUMBAI, Dec 13: Congress leader in the State Legislative Assembly Chhagan Bhujbal was today arrested here today for obstructing demolition ...

MUMBAI, Dec 13: Congress leader in the State Legislative Assembly Chhagan Bhujbal was today arrested here today for obstructing demolition of slums by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at Samata Nagar in Kandivali (east). He was later released though he did not apply for bail.

Bhujbal when contacted said that he was informed in the morning that the corporation was going to demolish the slums at Samata Nagar and that some of the huts were constructed prior to 1995. He said, "I challenged the municipal officers and asked them to prove that the huts they were demolishing were constructed after 1995," and added that officers did not identify huts which were constructed prior to 1995. The leader of Opposition said that when he asked the officers for the demolition plan and the basis on which they were carrying it out, they failed to give him a satisfactory answer.

"This is contempt of the Bombay High Court which has ruled that huts constructed prior to January 1995 cannot be demolished," he said and added that some of the hutments had their names figured in the electoral list and also had other proof.

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Failing to get a satisfactory answer from the officers, Bhujbal along with some Congress workers shouted slogans and physically tried to stop the demolition. "When nobody listened to my pleas, I threw myself before a bulldozer but later was arrested by the police along with my associates", he said. The police then lathi-charged the agitating crowd and arrested Bhujbal.

Meanwhile Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ranjit Deshmukh in Nagpur has strongly condemned the arrest of Chhagan Bhujbal.

Talking to newsmen, Deshmukh alleged that the Sena-BJP alliance government was trying to deprive the inhabitants of slum areas from voting in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.