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BMC to demolish part of Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow Prateeksha: Report
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has now started following up on its 2017 notice and will soon demolish a part of Prateeksha, the first bungalow of the Bachchans in Mumbai, news agency ANI reported.
A few years ago, Amitabh Bachchan and seven others, including Rajkumar Hirani, Oberoi Realty, Pankaj Balaji, Sanjay Vyas, Haresh Khandelwal and Haresh Jagtani, were served notice by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for "illegal construction". The issue has now been raked up by Congress councillor advocate Tulip Brian Miranda who has accused the civic body of dragging its feet in taking action against the Bachchan property. The councillor said no appeal is required after service notice for a road-widening project. But the BMC did not take any action.
Now, the civic body has started following up on its 2017 notice and will soon demolish a part of Prateeksha, the first bungalow of the Bachchans in Mumbai, news agency ANI reported. The Bachchans have another bungalow in the city named 'Jalsa'.
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"BMC gave notice to Amitabh Bachchan in 2017 under road widening policy but no action was taken. When the notice is issued, why was that land not taken by BMC? No appeal required for road widening project after notice served," the councillor told news agency ANI.
According to reports, Bachchan and others were issued Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices in 2016-2017 as they apparently made changes in the main map.
"Had it belonged to a common person, the BMC would have taken it immediately. Then why was the land not taken under Section 299 of the Municipal Act notice that says you don't have to wait for a second notice of appeal?" Tulip said.
The report said that the civic body has instructed Mumbai suburban collector city survey official to demarcate the exact portion of the bungalow required for the widening of the Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg road, which connects the Chandan Cinema area to Link Roar towards Iskcon temple.
The road widening project is crucial to ease traffic congestion in the area, but the work is stuck because of Prateeksha, the councillor alleged. "I wrote to the BMC in Feb 2021. I did not receive a reply so I had a telephonic conversation with the ward officer and wrote to the commissioner but still did not receive a reply. This is a very necessary project because there are two schools, a hospital, an ISKCON temple, and monuments in Mumbai are around. The road winding project has been suddenly stopped just because of Amitabh Bachchan's Bungalow," she added.
The councillor mentioned that other plots required for the project were acquired by the civic body. The wall of the plot adjoining Bachchan's bungalow was taken and drainage was created, she said.
In 2020 September, the civic body demolished part of actor Kangana Ranaut's office against which the Bombay high court later termed as 'wrongful'.
(With ANI inputs)
