Civic body demolishes 2 of Shitap’s ‘illegal’ commercial structures

Mumbai: In wake of the horrific Ghatkopar incident, the Brihanmumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (BMC) has started taking action against illegal structures erected by Sunil Shitap, the main accused in the Siddhi Saidarshan building collapse case. The civic body has managed to raze two commercial structures built by Shitap on private property.

The illegal structures were in Altaf Nagar area, Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, Ghatkopar (west). The judicial orders to demolish the structures came on July, 2017, but the civic body made the move on Thursday. “We got the order from the high court on the 15th of this month, so we carried out the demolition process accordingly. This is a routine job,” said Bhagyashree Kapse, assistant municipal commissioner of N ward. According to the civic body, action was initiated by the ward office against the structures in 2010 but the matter was taken to court, after which the civic body has taken the action for the second time.

Meanwhile, it is to be noted that the ward that witnessed the horrific incident does not have a single mukadam since the past one month. A mukadam is a civic staffer who is recruited to keep a tab on the illegal alteration/constructions in his ward. The ward does not have a mukadam at present, confirmed Ms Kapse. A mukadam is also responsible for attending to complaints related to unauthorised alterations or constructions and inspecting structures. Based on his observations, he is expected to give a report to the ward office concerned.