The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday demolished 37 structures that were reportedly obstructing the Andheri–Ghatkopar Link Road (AGLR) widening work.
The action was carried out by BMC’s N Ward as part of the ongoing road-widening work being undertaken from Jhunjhunwala College in Ghatkopar up to AGLR, which runs parallel to the railway station.
The demolition drive was led by Assistant Municipal Commissioner (N Ward) Dr Gajanan Bellale on the directions of Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Bhushan Gagrani and under the supervision of Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr Ashwini Joshi, and Zonal Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Zone 6) Santoshkumar Dhonde.
According to officials, several structures along the stretch were causing obstructions to the road-widening project. All the 37 affected structures were cleared on Thursday to facilitate unhindered progress of the work.
More encroachments on Bandra`s Carter Road, say residents
Unable to prevent encroachment on the Carter Road promenade by food stalls, the residents of Bandra have now spoken up against the construction of what they believe to be a place of worship on the promenade. United as a civic group named IM_PACT (Citizens Movement for Environment and Civic Action), the residents on Thursday complained to the civic body about losing a gazebo at one end of the promenade, which has now been temporarily covered with tin sheets.
In its complaint emailed to authorities, IM_PACT said, “This is to bring to your attention that the promenade at Carter Road seafront used by thousands of people daily as a place to walk, exercise, watch the sunset, sit with friends, and get fresh air, is slowly being misused and CRZ norms violated… We find that the gazebo at the northern end is being converted to a religious structure.”
An online petition has also been started about the “encroachment of public open spaces for commercial development”. A member of IM_PACT and resident of Bandra said, “We formed this citizens’ action group so that we don’t get caught in crossfires with authorities individually due to our constant complaints. All complaints and RTIs are filed via this group itself.”
The group spearheaded the ‘Save Patwardhan Park’ movement in 2022-23, when the BMC planned to construct an underground parking lot under the open space. The idea was subsequently dropped by the civic body. The resident quoted earlier said, “Any land that is vacant is just jumped at — make it into a parking lot, shopping plaza, etc. Over the past few years, several such issues have come to light in the Bandra area alone.”
The residents had first spoken up about BMC’s move of concreting an open space adjoining Bandra Fort. While the plan was to beautify the area and provide more space for tourists to sit around, open earth was lost to concreting, increasing heat in the area, the residents said. Following this, the residents had opposed plans to shorten a traffic island near Mehboob Studio to enable large vehicles such as buses to take a turn effectively.
“We wrote letters and were told there were no plans, but we had seen a board/public notice at the traffic island park,” a member of IM_PACT said, adding that now the residents are afraid they would lose another portion of the Carter Road promenade. An online petition has been launched with 410 signatures so far. It reads: “We, the undersigned concerned citizens of Mumbai, wish to record our strong objection to the ongoing and indiscriminate monetisation of public land in the city.”
