Mumbai: BMC yet to give Shimpoli playground encroachers the boot

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC seems to be turning a deaf ear to Prime Minister Narendra Modirsquos Mann Ki Baat The PM in one of his monthly programmes spoke about the importance of playgrounds which help keep the youth of the country physically fitThe R Central ward office however is yet to clear a massive fruit market from a plot at Shimpoli in Borivli West that had been reserved as a playground Ironically the encroached plot falls in the constituency represented by BJP member of Parliament MP Gopal Shetty and Member of Legislative Assembly MLA Sunil RaneTwo state cabinet membersmdashSanjay Bansode minister for sports and youth welfare and Aditi Tatkare who holds the women and child development portfoliomdashhad ordered that the encroachment be removed and the ground be used for its intended purpose The civic administration has yet to actWhen midday tried to contact Shetty and Rane they did not respond to calls and messages Additional Municipal Commissioner AMC Western Suburbs Sudhakar Shinde asked this reporter to get in touch with Sandhya Nandekar the R Central ward officer as he was travelling However the latter did not respond to calls and messagesIn May Manish Dube an NCP activist filed a complaint with the BMC against Apna Fruit Market The complainant urged the civic body to get rid of the encroachers and clear the plot reserved for the playground However as no action was taken the issue was escalated to MantralayaIn August NCP leaders Bansode and Tatkare received a complaint about a plot off Link Road in Borivli that was being commercially exploited by a wholesale and retail fruit vendor Immediately both ministers on the complaint letter itself passed a remark requesting BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal to take action midday is in possession of the letter that has been marked to the municipal administratorOn September 9 BMC issued a speaking order stating that documents submitted by owneroccupier were not satisfactory and could not be considered as proofdocumentary evidence to prove the authentication of the structures ldquoStructures are not authorised or approved by the competent authority of the BMC Hence you owner occupier are directed to remove the structures within 24 hours from the date of receipt of this speaking order Failing which the same will be demolished by the BMC at your owneroccupier risk and cost sicrdquo the notice a copy of which is in middayrsquos possession readMukesh Gupta an advocate privy to the case stated that the BMC is dealing with the offenders with kid gloves ldquoIt has been over three weeks since the notice was issued If the structure was not removed voluntarily as asked by the BMC in its notice the local ward office should have cleared it by now But encroachment remains on the ground and business continues as usualrdquo he saidGupta said that he would file an application through the Right to Information RTI Act to find how many times the BMC had sought police protection to demolish the fruit market ldquoThe reply will clear the ambiguity If BMC has not asked for police protection it means that besides serving the notice it has done nothing in this case If they have asked for protection and not gone ahead with the demolition then something is fishy In both scenarios fingers will be pointed at the civic administration for going slow when it comes to acting against the encroachersrdquo he addedThe president of the Apna Fruit Market Rajiv Mishra refused to speak on the issue A market vendor claimed that the plot in question is not a playground but a recreation ground He said that to the best of his knowledge there was a dispute going on in the court between the owner of the plot and the BMC over compensation and other issues However when this reporter cited that the article is not about ownership title or compensation but pertains to the construction of unauthorised sheds and fruit market he received no replySept 9Day BMC issued speaking order