How will BMC tackle illegal construction, asks Congress

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Days after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked the BMC to take action against illegal construction in the city, the Congress wondered how the civic body would do it, alleging that corporation officials are involved in corruption. The BMC has received 84,364 complaints of illegal construction but has taken action only in 5 per cent of the cases, said Congress corporator Ravi Raja.

The Congress leader said BMC officials are doling out licences to commercial establishments where it was revoked just last year. Even deputy municipal commissioners are involved in graft, he said. Ravi Raja said, "The municipal commissioner will have to take serious action against the top officers to ensure others fall in line. How will the CM's orders of removal of encroachment be met if there is no intent of the civic officials at all? There is a high level of corruption and the BMC officials often give ideas to approach the court so that notices can be stayed."

There are many cases where BMC has not followed up on notices issued by it, he said. A senior civic official not willing to be named said, "The pendency of cases is only because of shortage of manpower as the majority staff was on Covid duty, but slowly we are following up on all the complaints as directed by municipal commissioner last week." The BMC also plans to overhaul its Removal of Encroachment Complaint Tracking and Data Management System.