Thane squatters 8212; Last hurdle before Forest Dept crumbles

In a judgement on July 11, the Bombay High Court had ordered the Forest Department to demolish all encroachments in the park on a petition filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group in 1995. The encroachments in Thane include 126 shops and other commercial establishments, about 340 pucca residential structures and three illegal buildings. The state Forest Department plans to initially demolish the commercial structures comprising mainly engineering workshops, hotels and beer bars, before tackling the residential premises. There are 33,000 encroachers in Mumbai.

The court however recently extended the deadline for payment of the first two instalments to December 31, 1999, for residential encroachers opting for relocation in both Mumbai and Thane. According to the court8217;s order, if they fail to pay the relocation charges by then, they will be deemed as illegal and the encroachments should be demolished for recovery of the forest land.

The Bombay High Court had on October 1, lifted a stay on the proposed demolition in Thane which it had granted in August 1997. The encroachers subsequently filed the SLP in the Supreme Court on November 1.