Mumbai: BMC gears up to crack down on illegal constructions

Illegal construction atop a water pipeline at Bandra East. Representation pic/Nimesh Dave

After Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's instructions regarding illegal constructions in the city, and Mayor Kishori Pednekar urging the civic administration to take serious action against them, the BMC has decided to fix the loopholes and make the Removal of Encroachment website more efficient. Work on the overhaul of the Removal of Encroachment Complaint Tracking and Data Management System (RETMS) is underway.

Earlier last week, the CM had instructed BMC officials to take immediate action against unauthorised constructions, at war footing. The same was instructed by Civic Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to the assistant municipal commissioners of all 24 wards. The commissioner had asked ward officials to form teams at the ward level and start cracking down on illegal encroachments. Officials from the Removal of Encroachment Department also updated BMC authorities about their plans to better the existing system, which was neglected during the pandemic.

Last year, due to the lockdown, many illegal construction complaints had gone unnoticed or action against them was delayed. But the BMC has decided that they will not allow this to go on any longer. Currently the software - the management system - is not updating the data which can show the pendency of complaints. This is causing issues of supervision by the authorities as they have to look for the complaints. However, the civic body has started to work on fixing these issues and it should be done in a month's time, revealed officials.

The website, which has been functioning for the past five years or so, is where citizens can register their complaints and add the photos of illegal constructions. It also has GPS tracking to enable officials to know the exact location of the unauthorised work. But due to the pandemic, action was delayed, and this will soon be rectified, said officials.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Special), Sanjog Kabare, said, "We will be overhauling the system and will soon get better results as it will help us micro-manage the issue. We will better the supervision over the complaints."