BMC’s New Year resolution: Razing 16,000 illegal hutments

Says Deputy Municipal Commissioner in-charge of demolitions Chandrashekhar Rokade, "Earlier the municipal police force strength of 162 constables was totally centralised in the Parel and Naigaon zones. This used to considerably delay the demolition work in other parts of the city as the BMC police had to first report to their head offices in Parel and Naigaon and then rush to the demolition site."

But now, Rokade adds further, with the decentralisation, the BMC police force is equally divided in all the six zones in thecity, each headed by a police inspector for better efficiency.

“Joint police commissioner Dr P S Pasricha has actively helped us in the decentralisation of the system. We have also received eight more vehicles for the police to fully enhance the demolition drive,” he informs.S Shinde, BMC officer in charge of removal of encroachment, while talking to The Indian Express says that a total of 16,000 unauthorised hutments have been identified for demolitions this year. “Of the 16,000 hutments, 3,500 are in Dharavi, 3,800 in Borivali and 3,500 illegal hutments and shanties in Andheri,” Shinde informs.

He goes on to add that after a recent meeting, there will now be better interaction between the BMC, the Collector, Maharashtra Housing And Development Authority (MHADA) and other state-run organisations for effectively curbing the growth of unauthorised structures.

“Another effective change is the amendment in the BMC Act. Under Section 354 (a), the Municipality can carry out a demolition within 24 hoursof serving the notice. Under Section 351 of the Act, a ward officer has also been empowered to serve a demolition notice, instead of waiting for the DMC, as in the past, to issue the notice to the erring party,” says Shinde.He adds that from this year all the 23 wards will regularly maintain four demolition registers: detection of unauthorised structures, notices, court injunctions and demolitions.

While 1,08,000 illegal structures were demolished in 1997, there were only 50,000 demolitions in 1998. This time, the BMC is confident of completing its target once the list of `ripe’ buildings and structures ready for demolitions is made in the respective wards.