Civic authorities carry out demolition drive

In a bid to decongest the roads of the western suburbs, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) demolished 149 illegal stalls and unlicensed shops from Andheri to Dahisar on Friday. This is the biggest demolition drive in the western suburbs with civic officials from six different wards carrying out the drive.

The civic body raided over 60 small stalls and confiscated 63 gas cylinders most of which were kept on footpaths outside the stalls. The civic body has also fined food joints and stall owners for encroaching upon the footpath. A senior civic official said, “Most of the stalls had extended their shops to the road which led to more traffic congestion on the roads. Also, some of the stall owners had kept gas cylinders outside their stalls. We have cleared a good amount of unlicensed stalls which will clear more congestion on roads.”

MCGM body cleared 24 stalls from Dahisar, 20 stalls from Borivili, 32 stalls from Goregaon, 30 stalls from Malad and 40 stalls from Jogeshwari, Ville Parle, Versova and Andheri.

A civic official involved in the drive said, “We are looking forward to remove more stalls in the western suburbs as the roads here face daily traffic congestion. We would take strict action against stall owners and food joints for keeping gas cylinders in the open.”

It may be recalled to a tragic incident where a major fire incident had occurred in an eatery in Kurla where eight students of a nearby college lost their lives. The fire had occurred due to a gas cylinder blast from which belonged to the eatery.