Juhu residents complain of Mumbai civic body’s inaction on illegal construction

Residents of a building at Juhu have criticised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for dragging its feet regarding a dangerous illegal construction in

Residents of a building at Juhu have criticised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for dragging its feet regarding a dangerous illegal construction in the area. Residents of Archana Kutir building claim that they have been complaining for the past three months about dangerous illegal constructions around their property, for which no action has been initiated by the civic body so far.

Residents have sent close to 70 emails complaining about the illegal structures to the state government and BMC, but are yet to receive a reply. (HT PHOTO)

Since the first week of October, residents have sent close to 70 emails complaining about the illegal structures to the state government and BMC, but no reply has been received. The ground-plus-five-storey structure is surrounded by a compound wall which is sandwiched between two alleged illegal structures. The wall has developed cracks, and residents fear that it may collapse at any point.

Kunal Bharti, secretary of Archana Kutir building, said, “The adjacent resto-bar Copa Lounge has constructed a wooden partition on our compound. There was a space between the bar and our compound which they have encroached on. We have been complaining to the local administrative ward, but no action has been initiated.”

Replying to the complaints, Kabir Luthryia, one of the owners of Copa, said, “We have proof that the wooden partition on their compound wall existed since the past eight years. The residents of Archana Kutir had agreed to have it constructed. They had first made noise complaints against us, and to tackle that we had put up the wooden partition so that the sound would be confined to our area. It is of no use to us, and we will remove it immediately.”

On the other side of the Kutir building, construction work on a residential structure on a plot named Periera Villa has also damaged the compound wall. Peeyush Gupta, secretary of Archana Kutir, said, “The building is being illegally constructed, and we are tired of complaining to the BMC about this since months. Despite the structure being under construction, some of the flats have been sold and families have occupied rooms in this building, which does not have an occupation certificate yet. No action has been initiated against them.”

When residents tried contacting Vishwas Mote, assistant municipal commissioner of K-West ward (Juhu), he did not revert to their queries.