Mumbai: Illegal construction plaints down by half in lockdown

The wards which witnessed a drop in complaints are mostly in the western suburbs. Representation pic/Shadab Khan

In an interesting reply to an RTI query, it has been found that while complaints of illegal construction increased in Kurla, Govandi, Byculla and Bhandup during the lockdown, in the rest of the city they reduced to half.

RTI activist Shakil Sheikh's query to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) found that the average complaints of illegal construction increased in Kurla from 120 to 180 and in Govandi from 72 to 106 per month in the lockdown. Out of a total of 9,558 complaints lodged between March 25, 2020 and February 20, 2021, one third were from Kurla and Govandi. While 2,002 complaints were from L ward consisting of Kurla, 1,174 were from M east consisting of Govandi and Mankhurd. The least complaints - 24 - were received from A ward while 90 were received from F north (Sion, Wadala). In Bhandup, average complaints rose from 40 to 50 and in Byculla, from 27 to 40 per month.

In other parts of the city, the complaints reduced to more than half. There were 52,154 complaints of illegal construction received between January 2016 - June 2019, a period of 42 months on an average of 1,242 per month. But apart from the four wards which witnessed an increase, the average complaints in the rest of the city reduced from 980 per month to 490 per month in the lockdown.

The wards which witnessed a drop in complaints are mostly in the western suburbs. Average complaints in K east ward (Jogeshwari east to Vile Parle east) lessened from 82 to 35. In K west (Jogeshwari west to Vile Parle west) they reduced to 27 from 88 per month. Even in P north (Malad) average complaints reduced to 31 from 88.

Though the complaints reduced, the issue of action against them exists. "Out of 9,558 complaints, the BMC has acted with demolition in just 466 cases. Every year the BMC issues more than 15,000 notices and spends over Rs 20 crore on police protection and other machinery. Still, 90 per cent complaints remain unresolved," said RTI activist Sheikh.

9,558
No. of complaints between Mar 25, 2020 and Feb 20, 2021