The BMC has claimed to have started taking down details of encroachments by hotels and other commercial establishments along with their pictures for action, but residents – especially in encroachment hotspots like Bandra – are sceptical; they say nothing will come out of a drive for a few days and that a long-term strategy is needed to deal with the issue.
The municipal commissioner, Ajoy Mehta, had asked all 24 ward officers to collect details of hotels and restaurants encroaching on footpaths and to initiate action against them. The civic authority claimed that they initiated the process on Wednesday and will collect the details along with photographs across the city in the next two days and will initiate action against them from next week.
“It not possible to collect details of such violation across the city in a few days because the scale is so huge. The violations in Bandra itself will take them a few days. The idea is good, but the civic authority needs to adopt a long time strategy to deal with the issue” said Shyama Kulkarni trustee of AGNI, an NGO.
Film maker and activist Ashok Pandit said, “Its just eye-wash to make people happy. The BMC ward offices already have details of such establishments and they should initiate immediate action based on previous reports and not add more papers to their file instead of acting.”
The Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association, on the other hand, raised questions over the BMC’s selective action against commercial establishments.
“We support the initiative, but we would like to know why directions are only against commercial establishments and not illegal hawkers who encroaches upon 50% of footpath” stated Viren Shah, an association member.
Meanwhile the fire brigade inspected 507 buildings, including commercial establishment, in the last two months and found deficiency in 308 structures. They were issued notices after which 73 have complied while the rest have reportedly asked for time to put the firefighting systems in place. The fire brigade has initiated prosecution against 3 establishment for not adopting fire safety measures.