Thane municipal chief goes on demolition spree, razes 1000 structures violating norms
Picture Courtesy: Sandeep Malvi
In a major city-wide clean up drive, Thane Municipal chief Sanjeev Jaiswal and his team demolished over 1,000 structures ranging from small cigarette shops to dance bars which had encroached on open spaces in Thane over the last five days.
The drive was targeted at structures flouting civic norms in and around Mumbra area of Thane. The demolished structures include cigarette shops, garages, road side repair shops, restaurants, hookah parlours, lodges, ladies bars among others.
Jaiswal personally supervised the demolition of 20 hookah parlours, 10 lodges and 3 ladies bars around Shil-Phata and Kalyan-Phata areas on Monday alone. The drive was carried out by TMC officials with the help of local police.
According to sources, most of these businesses were bribing local authorities to in order to continue operations. Some of the lodges demolished over the last one week were also used for flesh trade and drug peddling.
Sandeep Malvi, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Thane Municipal Corporation said, “The drive has been going on for the last one week against illegal ladies bars and lodges. Today, we also found some hookah parlours and took action against them. Almost 20 such parlours were demolished on Monday.”
Malvi also said that some of the residents had complained of illegal activities going on in these premises.
Apart from the lodges and hookah joints, authorities also took stern action against 400 local garages and repair shops, which had encroached upon public land.
“We had covered Thane and on Monday, started the drive across Mumbra and the surrounding areas. More than a thousand structures, including small cigarette shops to garages were demolished,” added TMC chief Jaiswal.
On Thursday, TMC had demolished 25 dhabas, 30 furniture showrooms, 25 garages, 10 hotel sheds, 8 lodges and 5 bars.
Residents, at large, have welcomed the move and lauded the administration for taking action against illegal structures in the area.
Back in March, the civic body had also razed hundreds of structures around the Thane station area to make way for traffic and road widening.
The structures demolished on Monday were:
Hookah joints: Food Talk, Navazam Googils Restaraunt, Night Life, Moti Mahel, Green Laon, Dosti, Ambanis, Green Park, Bhaijaan, Mejbaan, Shezwaan, Moghal Dhaba,Moon Light, R.B.N. Light, Light Night, Whatsup, Sufi Dhaba, Bypass Dhaba, Takatak and Blue Loan.
Lodges: Shubham Lodge, Konkan King, Varsha Lode, Sagar Lodge, Sachin Lodge, Sai Vhar Lodge, Rohit Lodge, Prem Lodge and Hanuman Lodge.
Ladies Bars: Bristo Grill , Leela Bar and Rock Star.
