The Times of India       21.01.2011

 MUMBAI: BMC commissioner Subodh Kumar
faced uncomfortable questions from citizens on civic issues at his
first public grievance meeting held on Thursday. The session went on for
over 90 minutes.

Among the complainants were some aggrieved
Borivli residents who came with a plea to demolish some illegal floors
constructed in their building.

Incidentally, TOI had carried a report on Thursday that Kumar had issued a circular to demolish all unauthorised floors.

About Kumar issuing a circular to the building proposal department of
the BMC that all illegal floors in a building without the approval of
the BMC would be demolished.

The circular gave a ray of hope to
the Borivli residents, as their persistent efforts to demolish the
illegal floors, have gone in vain since 2000. “For 10 years, we have met
all municipal commissioners in such Lok Adalats, but there were no
results. When we met the R-Ward building proposal department official he
threatened to cut off power for bringing up this issue. Instead of
taking action against the builder and the architects, the official was
asked to regularize the illegal floors in 2008,” said Rakesh Arora, a
Borivli resident. “The BMC issued a notice to pay the penalty to
regularize the floors. When I objected, civic bodyissued MRTP notices to
demolish the floors. But till date, there is a status quo on the
issue,” he said.

Arora says that the builder alone can never
succeed in constructing illegal floors. “It’s always in connivance with
the BMC’s building proposal department. This department must monitor the
work in progress while a construction takes place. As a last resort,
I’ve moved court against the BMC,” he added The Thursday session was
Kumar’s first meeting with citizens, since he took charge as municipal
chief early this month.

The Lok Shahi exercise and public
grievance meetings are conducted based on a directive by the state
government and is followed over the years. But civic sources said that
the practice of holding public grievance meetings had been discontinued.
Kumar will now meet the public every Thursday. “It could be because it
was compulsory for municipal commissioners to attend Lok Shahi and not
public grievance meetings. But the former municipal chief would send his
representatives to attend to the public,” said a source.

When
TOI asked Kumar if the meetings would serve the purpose, he said, “I
have given instructions on each file that comes to me. Officials will
check if it’s in compliance and what further action needs to be taken.”