Illegal portions of 200 shops at SoBo mall razed

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished illegal portions of around 200 shops located at the City Centre mall in Mumbai Central, where a massive fire had gutted the top two floors of the structure on October 22. The demolition had started on Monday and concluded on Thursday.

Prashant Gaikwad, assistant commissioner of D ward, which has jurisdiction over the area, said, “BMC demolished illegal portions of over 200 shops on the ground and first floors of the mall. The second and top floors were completed gutted in the fire. Many owners have constructed mezzanine floors in their shops, and bigger shops have been divided into smaller ones with false walls.”

Earlier this week, the fire brigade had also revoked the fire no-objection certificate issued to the mall. It will not be allowed to reopen until a structural audit, declaring the structure safe for habitation, is completed. Three weeks ago, the fire brigade had submitted a preliminary inquiry report about the blaze to BMC’s standing committee. It had noted that while the mall’s blueprint showed only 344 approved galas (shops), there were 1,344 shops.

Gaikwad said, “The remaining galas had been approved by the civic body’s building proposal department in 2017. However, these 200 shops had unauthorised additions and alterations to their original structures and we demolished them in the past four days.”

The committee had directed the administration to not reopen the mall until all the illegalities had been removed.

HT FILE It had taken the fire brigade over 56 hours to douse the blaze at City Centre mall in Mumbai Central.