Surat Municipality admits many units illegal, pleads helplessness

Sunday's blast at an emery-wheel-making unit which killed 43 at Varachha area throws up the question how the Surat Municipal Corporation (SM...

Sunday’s blast at an emery-wheel-making unit which killed 43 at Varachha area throws up the question how the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the factory inspectors have been turning a blind eye to the illegal construction and hazardous units in the area for the past two decades.

Varachha is everything a residential area should not be. With an estimated population of 10 lakh, it is one of the most overcrowded areas of the city. Most of the residents are diamond-cutters and polishers who live in small rooms in these illegal buildings.

According to SMC zonal officer M.D. Daruwala, 50 to 60 per cent of the construction at Varachha area is illegal. Many of the residential premises like Matawadi, Baroda Pristige, Lambe Hanuman Road, A.K. Road, Trikamnagar and Heera Baug house emery-wheel-making units on the ground floor.

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A senior SMC official, on condition of anonymity, said: ‘‘There are about 3,000 saran, diamond polishing and laser diamond-cutting units in the area. They are all located in residential premises.’’

Daruwala said: ‘‘Most of the (illegal) construction was done before 1986 when the area came under the SMC.’’ Till 1975, it was an industrial area. But he had no answer when asked why the SMC failed to initiate action against the illegal constructions that came up after 1986.

Municipal Commissioner G.R. Aloria said: ‘‘We could do nothing to prevent the illegal constructions as they had come up some 15 to 20 years back. Now we are taking action against the illegal constructions.’’

Congress Councillor of Varachha ward number 23 Dasbhai Sorathia said: ‘‘There are thousands of illegal constructions here. But the SMC doesn’t take action because of political pressure. Sunday’s blast has revealed that the buildings are structurally weak. There are thousands of such other illegal constructions.’’

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Suspended Varachha zone SMC junior engineer J.K. Chaudhary said: ‘‘The higher authorities never took any concrete step and we’ve had to pay for a crime we never committed.”

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