Demolition of illegal Dombivli building begins

After waiting for more than a fortnight since a complaint was raised against an illegal ground plus seven storey residential building in Dombivli, the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) finally initiated the demolition of the building on Wednesday

Kalyan

Demolition of illegal Dombivli building begins

After waiting for more than a fortnight since a complaint was raised against an illegal ground plus seven storey residential building in Dombivli, the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) finally initiated the demolition of the building on Wednesday.

The building that has come up on a reserved plot for garden at Manpada near Gaodevi mandir road in Dombivli (East), was the talking point in the city as the civic officials were delaying its demolition despite the civic chief’s order to raze it. The KDMC ward officer cited the reason for delay as lack of police protection for the demolition work.

“We got the police protection from Tilak Nagar police and accordingly the demolition was initiated without further delay. Over 30 police constables and three police officers were present at the spot at the time of the demolition,” said Bharat Patil, ward officer, KDMC.

The demolition was carried out by using one JCB, 10 poklen, seven breaker machines, 25 labourers , while three assistant municipal commissioners were also present at the site.

The matter of this particular illegal building was highlighted by architect cum Right to Information (RTI) activist Sandeep Patil on April 20. Followed by this, the KDMC commissioner Bhausaheb Dangde , ordered the demolition of the building on April 27. However the demolition was not carried out by the ward officer citing the reason the police did not provide adequate manpower for the job. Patil filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on May 4 against the civic body for not carrying out the demolition.

“Earlier also several had tried to highlight the matter of this particular building, but it was not attended by the civic body. This time I threatened to approach high court due to which the civic body seems to have addressed the issue. When I checked about the building, I found it to be not just illegal, but also to be built on a state government land which is reserved for a garden,” said Patil.

The building on reservation plot no 93 is over 10,500 square meter area.

Patil has also earlier exposed the MahaRERA scam in which 65 projects from Kalyan Dombivli region were found to have produced a fake commencement certificate, the statutory approval required from a municipal authority.

“My fight against illegal construction in the city will continue in the coming days and my aim is to ensure more such buildings are razed before people are fooled and invest in the flats their hard earned money,” added Patil.