Second in a week: Illegal structures razed in Kurla

In a bid to avoid traffic congestion in Kurla, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) on Friday demolished 65 illegal constructions on the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg. This is the second time in a week that the civic body has razed illegal structures at the LBS Marg.

The Free Press Journal had reported on July 23 that the civic body had demolished 80 illegal structures on the LBS Marg.The demolition drive was carried out from Maharashtra Kata to Kurla Court where the 65 illegal structures existed from a very long time. Bharat Marathe, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Zone 5), initiated the inquiry against the illegal constructions that posed a major traffic bottleneck on the LBS Marg.

A senior civic official said, “The 21 km stretch being one of the busiest roads in the city, also has more congestion due to the illegal constructions. The civic body successfully demolished 40 illegal shops and 25 illegal stalls with the help of 43 civic officials.”

Ajay Kumar Ambi, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of L ward, said, “Some of the shops had illegal extensions on the road which created more congestion on the road. The demolition of the illegal structures will help in easing vehicular traffic on the road.”

Similarly, 20 illegal constructions at Malad West were demolished on Friday. Places like Sainath Bazar, Kasturba Marg and Anand Marg in Malad West witnessed demolition of 20 illegal shops. The demolition drive at P south ward (Malad) was initiated by Kiran Achrekar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Zone 4), after a lot of traffic problems were reported at Malad West.

Sangita Hasnale, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of P south ward, said, “The demolition has helped to ease vehicular traffic on the roads near Malad Railway station. This will also give respite to commuters as they find it difficult to reach to the railway stations because of the vehicular traffic on the road.”

The demolition drive at both of the places was carried out with the help of one JCB machine, 1 dumper and five tempos.