BMC razes illegal shops on footpath at Lower Parel

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished several illegal commercial structures along the NM Joshi Road in Lower Parel on Monday. These shops had illegally occupied the footpath on two clusters along the road, outside Apollo Mills and a petrol pump.

Most of the structures demolished were either eateries or shops which sold readymade snacks, many of which were makeshift structures but had encroached large spaces of footpath on the busy road. After the demolition, the BMC cleared the debris and repaired the footpath .

An official, part of the demolition, said, “We noticed that pedestrians were forced to walk on the busy street, despite the existence of a footpath along the road. Keeping in mind pedestrian safety, we carried out the demolition urgently.”

The civic body had approached the court after the encroachers continued to occupy despite the allotment of alternate places a decade ago. In a recent hearing, the high court directed the BMC to demolish the illegal structures.

The establishments come in G South ward. The assistant commissioner of the ward — Devendra Kumar Jain — said, “In 2008, we had given alternate places to these shopkeepers to set up their establishments at Naigaon in Dadar. Shopkeepers are usually wary of shifting because they fear losing their business. However, that could not have been the case here, considering Naigaon is a very prominent area.”

Under civic chief Ajoy Mehta’s ‘Pedestrian first policy’, the BMC has been demolishing illegal structures on footpaths for the past two years.