The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) resumed its operation of demolishing illegally constructed portions / extensions of bars and lodges in the twin-city for the second consecutive day on Friday. It took the chief minister’s orders for the MBMC’s anti-encroachment squad to finally wake up from its slumber and initiate the demolition process.
Around seven structures were razed with the help of JCB’s during the bulldozing drive by the demolition teams led by deputy municipal commissioner- Ravi Pawar on Thursday. The MBMC teams were accompanied by a large police force. DCP (Crime) -Prakash Gaikwad personally monitored the security arrangements during the demolition drive.
On Friday, the MBMC teams demolished a couple of illegally constructed ladies orchestra bars located on the service road of the western express highway in Kashimira. In the wake of the Pune Porsche incident and instances of brazen drug abuse going viral on social media platforms, chief minister-Eknath Shinde directed municipal and police commissioners to take strict action against the illegalities to flush out the drug menace, late night operations and unauthorised catering of liquor to underaged youngsters. “The drive will continue till the entire illegalities are weeded out.” said Pawar.
There are more than 150 bars and lodges in the twin-city. While some have sprung up without adequate permissions, those who managed to secure sanctions from the civic administration have carried out blatant structural changes and added illegal extensions to their establishments.
Pick & Choose Policy Under Scanner.
However, it has been alleged that the civic officials were not only adopting a pick-and-choose policy to target certain establishments but were going soft on some illegal structures by taking cosmetic action, thus raising a serious question mark on the credibility of the drive. Meanwhile, the legal department has also been instructed to clear hurdles by speeding up the process of vacating stays on the virtue of which illegal constructions are protected, an official said.
