BMC dubs 35 Kurla galas illegal, razes them right before court hearing

The BMC on Saturday demolished 35 of the 100 small-scale units operating in the Bharat Coal compound at Kajupada in Kurla West for allegedly being unauthorised

MUMBAI: The BMC on Saturday demolished 35 of the 100 small-scale units operating in the Bharat Coal compound at Kajupada in Kurla West for allegedly being unauthorised. The remaining 65 will also face the BMC bulldozer, rendering about 5,000 workers unemployed. Fifty galas have yet to get demolition notices, which the BMC will serve in a fortnight.

Mumbai, India - April 7, 2024: BMC demolished illegal construction at Bharat Coal compound, Kurla in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, April 7, 2024. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The gala owners were issued a speaking order on February 21, stating that their structures needed to have been constructed before April1,1962 in order to be considered authorised. The speaking order, signed by L ward’s designated officer, stated that neither the rent receipts nor the online Google location proved the structures were authorised. It further stated that the structures were too close to the boundary wall of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Refuting the BMC’s claims, the gala owners told HT that the Bharat Coal compound was constructed before the 1960s, and that its 100 small-scale units were housed in protected structures on private land in Zone 13. The structures can be seen in the city survey plan Number 13 as legal units.

Ritesh Jain, whose gala was demolished, said that a local politician, along with the BMC and a developer, had created a nexus to demolish all the galas in the compound by serving a demolition notice under Section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. “Our boundary wall is not adjoining the airport land; there is a road in between,” he said. “The matter is to be heard in the Bombay high court by Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata on April 25 but the BMC demolished the galas before the case came up.”

Ashok Shetty, who has been running a readymade garments exports business here since 1961, said the gala owners had been paying electricity and rent bills and BMC licence fees prior to 1961. “There is a builder-politician nexus here, which is forcing people to vacate this plot,” he said. “There are a 100-plus small-scale engineering, fabrication and readymade garment units, which employ a total of 5,000 people.”

Shetty has 100 tailors working under him. “They demolished my gala, and now all 100 have no jobs,” he said, adding that the plot was an industrial estate and private property, which the BMC had no right to demolish. The civic body, however, maintains that the documents produced by the gala owners and submitted to the court are “not sufficient”.

On Saturday, the BMC, with the help of seven JCBs and over 50 workers, many of whom were private labourers, evicted the gala owners and their employees by force, disconnected the power supply and demolished the galas. Some galas which were locked were broken into and damaged irreparably along with the machines and equipment stored in them.

Former MLA and minister Naseem Khan intervened to stop the demolition on Saturday. However, though it ceased at 4.30 pm, the demolition squad entered the compound again at 7.30 pm and recommenced razing the remaining galas, which went on till late in the night.

A civic official from L ward’s encroachment department confirmed the demolition but did not further comment on it.