Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation found no illegalities: Right to Information

Mumbai: Amidst allegations of a large number of illegal constructions and encroachments at the Kamala Mill Compound, it has come to light that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) kept changing its stand on the issue, thus raising doubts over its sincerity on taking action against such structures.

The fire which had gutted the two pubs, 1 Above and Mojo’s Bistro had resulted in the deaths of 14 persons. Following this, there were allegations that the civic officials were turning a blind eye towards repeated complaints about illegal structures at the commercial centre. It was highlighted by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which produced two letters highlighting the two opposite stands of the civic body on the issue of dealing with such structures. One of the letters stated that there are no unauthorised constructions at Kamala Mill Compound, whereas the other said that notices have been served for the illegal structures there.

MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande on Tuesday presented these letters exposing BMC’s contradictory stand on this issue. The letters had been written by the office of G-South ward to the MNS party workers, who sought the information under the Right to Information (RTI) act.

“When one of our party worker had sought details in mid-2017, the BMC official had replied that a notice had already been served under Section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act for unauthorised works. However, when another MNS activist filed a complaint over the issue in December, the civic officials told that there are no illegal constructions at Kamala Mill Compound. This clearly shows that the civic officials were trying to protect unauthorised structures there. There is a need to hold a judicial inquiry into the matter,” said Mr Deshpande.

He further demanded that municipal commissioner should not be asked to probe the incident.

“There should be a separate probe into the incident. With the involvement of civic officials, the civic chief may not take harsh action against them,” he added.

Congress MLA Nitesh Rane has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the fire. “BMC’s action is a mere eyewash,” he said.