The Asian Age: Mumbai: Wednesday, January 03, 2018.
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.
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