The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 30 th December 2016: Did you know that Mumbai municipal officials can bulldoze and smash entire streets without official paperwork? No show-cause notices, no letters and memos, no demolition register entries, no records whatsoever. It's like normal BMC tod-phod in broad daylight, except there's no paper trail. If you ask under Right To Information, BMC says, “No records exist”. On the morning of 10 th December, 2015, Dinesh Bhosle (Sub Engineer H/West Ward), Vikrant Manyar (Junior Engineer) and Siddharth Kasare (petty works contractor) went to 40 th Road, Old Khar West with casual labourers and a hired bulldozer, and smashed up many shop extensions. Here's a video of the demolition , with local resident Imran Mansuri (red shirt) arguing with BMC officials and a policeman. Constable Sanjay Ware in this photo was identified by Khar Police Station in response to Imran’s RTI application. Following Mansuri's complaint to Deven Bharti , Joint ...

Mumbai, 24th December, 2016: Mumbai Police recently filed FIR against K Raheja's Palm Grove Beach Hotels Pvt Ltd . Reason? V iolation of Town Planning Act by unauthorized construction of a drainage line in November-December 2015. Many months e ar lier, Palm Grove misled MCGM into giving Drainage Completion Certificate and  Occupation Certificate (OC) for their new building Horizon Green without drainage. T o make up the lacuna, the developer belatedly built a drainage line going uphill. That's right, uphill! T he Deputy M unicipal Commissioner's remarked on 5th January, 2016, "Validity of issue of occupation certificate dated on 18.4.2015 is doubtful " .   I f any flat -owners take possession and come to stay in their flats, they are in for a rude shock . W hen they start having baths and flushing toilets in sufficient numbers , their sewage will o verfl ow . See l evel difference in two blue circles in this drainage plan Near the ...

28 March 2016: An activist friend named Abbaas Naqvi (9892000098) wrote in October 2012 about BMC's modus operandi of defending illegal constructions. Abbaas wrote from his experiences in Malad P-North Ward of BMC/MCGM, where he and other activists (such as Shahnawaz Shaikh 9867768070) were trying to get municipal officials to take action against illegal constructions (especially TV studios) sprouting in the area. Activists are fighting an uphill battle against BMC officials who take undue advantage of their official position. People are losing hope because authorities take no action against errant officials, even when written complaints and evidences are submitted. Civic officials are defeating the town planning by abetting illegal constructions violating Development Control Regulations. No-Development zones are goldmines for officers dealing with unauthorized construction. Below, I am reproducing Abbaas‘ writings. As I am convinced that this is largely factual, I take full ...

23 March 2016, Mumbai: While browsing through my old emails, I found the following letter drafted by some of my fellow activists to the powers-that-be a few years back, when Prithviraj Chavan was Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Sitaram Kunte was the Municipal Commissioner. Methinks this letter is as relevant today as when it was written, back in December 2013. Activist friends like Abbaas Rizvi, who have been working to thwart the encroachment mafias in Mumbai, tell me that the issues that this letter points out are still as bad as ever. And so, I am reproducing this letter here for everyone to read, and hopefully to copy-paste onto their own letterhead, sign and send to the Chief Minister and our civic bosses.    To Hon’ble Chief   Minister of Maharashtra,   Mantralaya   Chief Secretary of Maharashtra,   Mantralaya   Principal Secretary-I, Urban Development Dept   Municipal Commissioner, BMC Head Office, Mahapalika Marg. ...