Mumbai: Shanmukhananda hall under scanner over 'illegal constructions'

The Shanmukhananda Hall, one of the city's iconic institutions, has been slapped with a notice by the BMC's F/ North Ward, which has sought explanation from its authorities for carrying out unauthorised constructions within the auditorium in violation of the Mumbai Municipal Act.

The Shanmukhananda Hall in Matunga, which was set up in July 1952

The notice is a result of a complaint filed by Gopkumar Pillai, who says he has been organising events at the auditorium for 35 years. Pillai has also written to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Zone II and the civic commissioner.

Unauthorised room built on the second floor

The notice
The BMC notice was issued by assistant engineer Rajesh Merai, is also Designated Officer -1, Building and Factory department (mid-day has a copy) dated July 22, 2016, under Section 351 of MMC Act. It was addressed to V Shankar, president of the Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, NS Sundar Rajan, secretary and S Ganesh, treasurer, demanding an explanation on the set of irregularities, which is contrary to the original plan submitted by the Sabha at the time of rebuilding the auditorium building after a fire incident in the late 90s.

Six rooms built on the open area of the first floor

Merai said, "We have found some discrepancies in the actual plan and have issued notice." However, his office had not received a response from the auditorium till Monday afternoon.

Gopkumar Pillai, the complainant and V Shankar, President of the Sabha

‘Exploiting the institution'
When mid-day asked Pillai why he complained against an institution he has been associated with, he said, "My complaint is not against the institution, but against the committee members, for violating the rules and regulations for commercial gains."

"I have found out that the present management committee since 2009 had been exploiting the institution for commercial gains, by constructing illegal structures and encroaching open space within the premises, which is actually endangering the audience's life, in case of any eventuality. Therefore, I registered a complaint with the BMC in the larger interest of the society," said Pillai.

Sabha president says
When mid-day spoke to V Shankar, he said, "We have not made any permanent construction outside the purview of our already submitted plan to BMC's building proposal department at the time of the building's construction. We have already approached the department, who are aware of these developments and are at the final stages of our regularisation process."

"Moreover, the constructions in question are not those which would raise concern over the stability of the structure or damage the overall stability of the auditorium and if that was the case, the mandatory fire NOC would not have been issued to the auditorium year after year," he added. While Shankar didn't explain his side on all seven irregularities listed by the BMC, he responded to two of them.

Regarding ‘irregularities'
Regarding the unauthorised covering of the open terrace by the construction of five rooms, he said, "This was a temporary structure and if the BMC finds this not to be within the permissible limit of regularisation, we wont hesitate to dismantle it."

On the change of toilet/bathroom block to a gymnasium on the second floor, he said, "The size of the toilets and bathroom was too big and moreover, it was not being used. Hence, it was decided to cut down their size. As gymnasiums are exempted from a portion of FSI in every building we decided to make use of the dead space by converting it into a gymnasium for our members."

"We have submitted our reply to BMC's local ward office's building and factory department and also to the building proposal department and have acknowledgments," Shankar added.