The Indian Express            13.11.2013

Over 1,253 demolition cases pending with BMC

Of over 3,700 buildings in the city that have been found violating various construction norms under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, over 1,253 cases are still pending action from the BMC.

In addition to these, 205 cases are mired in litigation and have court injunctions levied against them. Maximum pendency has been recorded from the K-west ward (Juhu, Vile Parle and Andheri west) with 150 cases, R-central ward (Kandivali and Borivali) with 91 cases, and E-ward (Byculla) with 77 cases. A majority of the injunctions are recorded from H-west ward (Bandra and Khar) with 39 cases, R-central ward (38 cases), and A-ward of Colaba and Fort with 11 cases.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani, in-charge of the removal of encroachments (RE) department, said, "There isn't a time-frame to complete the demolition drive. Often, court injunctions are sought, causing an indefinitely delay in the matters. Hence, it is not possible to create an action-plan to complete all demolitions within a stipulated time."

A senior official of the RE department said, "We recently issued notices and are still in the process of procuring documents from the respondents." According to BMC's data, 1,831 stop-work orders and 1,094 showcause notices have been served under the MMC Act.

"This is not the final count of the illegal structures in the city, but we can at least say that this is the minimum number of such structures," Adtani said. While BMC claims that 2,015 illegal structures have been demolished, prosecutions have been carried out in only 102 cases, of which 58 cases are from H-west ward (Bandra).

The Indian Express            13.11.2013

Amid stand-off, BMC begins demolition

Armed with more than 150 policemen, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Mumbai police began demolition process of 35 illegal floors in seven buildings at the Campa Cola compound, with two bulldozers and four truckloads of civic workers Tuesday morning. By the end of the day, however, only eight electricity meters and gas connections were disconnected by four teams of 16 workers each, led by five assistant municipal commissioners.

Of the 102 flats, which are on the list for demolition, the BMC began the process for eight flats that were already vacated. The BMC, however, did not attempt to evict residents of the other 94 flats.

The police took into custody three politicians — BMC independent corporator Makrand Narvekar, his brother and Shiv Sena spokesperson Rahul Narvekar and MLA Mangal Lodha, besides four residents, who were restricting the movement of civic officials attempting to carry out their work. "We detained them for a few hours and let them go in the evening. We haven't lodged any case against them," said Vinayak Deshmukh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone III.

Jigar Doshi, one of the residents who were detained, said, "We were standing near the gate with the politicians and protesting the demolition. The police dragged me to the van. We sat inside the van for about two hours and spent about three hours at the Byculla police station."

Civic officials are expected to resume the demolition work at 9 am Wednesday. "There is a lot of political pressure on us to proceed with caution. We have surveyed the seven buildings and will continue demolition work on Wednesday," said a senior civic official in charge of demolition.

"As new developments are expected from the Chief Minister's Office in response to residents' plea, we have been advised not to use force. Depending on the situation on Wednesday, we will plan our course of action for the day," he added.

The BMC has issued tenders to demolish the unauthorised portions of the buildings. Following the Supreme Court verdict in February 27, the BMC issued a 48-hour demolition notice to residents of the 35 unauthorised floors. Residents, however, approached the Supreme Court asking for regularisation of their unauthorised floors under permissible FSI. The apex court directed the residents to approach the authorities concerned. When the residents applied for regularisation with the BMC, the latter rejected the application citing the February 27 order of the apex court, which does not allow local bodies to put obstacles in executing the order.

The civic body plans to complete the demolition of internal walls and disconnection of electricity and water connections over the next two months. Thereafter, an expert private company, as appointed by the BMC, will carry out the demolition of the main beams, columns and floors of the buildings. The entire cost of the operation carried out by the BMC internally and externally amounts to roughly Rs 2 crore. The cost for demolition will be collected from the residents as per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act of 1888.

Seven high-rise buildings were constructed at the compound between 1981 and 1989. Illegal floors of Midtown Apartments, Esha Ekta Apartments, Shubh Apartments, Patel Apartments (two buildings), B Y Apartments and Orchid Apartments comprise 140 flats. While the builders were granted permission for ground-plus-five floors, Midtown has 20 floors, Orchid has 17, Esha Ekta has eight, Shubh has seven and B Y and Patel have six floors each.