ANOTHER CITY KINARA WAITING TO HAPPEN IN ANDHERI

Civic body silent on complaints of illegal construction, encroachment, and storage of gas cylinders at Bonny Plaza, near Andheri Railway Station, allege shopkeepers.

More than 65 shopkeepers from a complex near Andheri Railway Station have complained to the BMC, the police and the Fire Brigade that hawkers have blocked the building entrance and taken over the parking space.

The shop owners, at Bonny Plaza Shopping Premises Cooperative Society Ltd, said that one of these hawkers included a tea and snacks vendor, who had stored gas cylinders near the meter room, and the area was vulnerable to an accident similar to the one at City Kinara restaurant in Kurla, where a blaze in October last year killed eight people. They further said that an illegal shop has also been constructed on the terrace of the ground-plus-one structure.

“There have been many fires in the city recently caused due to short circuits. Our complex is a disaster waiting to happen. Every day, boxes stuffed with clothes and shoes, all packed in highly inflammable material, are dumped in our compound. There is no check on who enters and exits the premises. We haven’t received any response from the authorities, and we are being threatened by the hawkers,” one of the shop owners said.

He said that the shop owners have a BMC-approved plan that shows that the allotted parking space, which has now been encroached upon. “Despite owning shops in the complex, we pay to park our cars on the roads,” he said.

Another shop owner said that there is no way the fire engines can access the plaza. “God help us if a fire breaks out. These hawkers use electricity and water but refuse to pay for them,” he said.

The shop owners have blamed Yusuf Motiwala, who had bought the rights to the complex from the builder, alleging that the hawkers pay him for encroaching the premises. Motiwala admitted that the hawkers, including the tea vendor, were working for him, but said that the complaint against him was an attempt by a “fabricated society” to usurp the premises.

“The society was derecognised, so the question of my hawkers paying the maintenance does not arise. We are fighting a case against the shop owners in the high court.

“There is no parking space here. There was a corridor that was dismantled a few years ago. Earlier, there was no TDR, now that there is, I am just using up the FSI. We have submitted an application for a fresh layout plan,” he said.

The shop owners admitted that their society had been derecognised, but after they appealed, the deputy registrar had ruled in their favour. In 2008, the firm, Classic Constructions, appealed against the society’s registration before the divisional joint registrar, who ruled that the society had submitted false information to get registered, and sent the matter back to the deputy registrar of K-West Ward for ‘reconsideration and decision on merit’.

In November 2015, the deputy registrar passed an order saying the society be recognised. “No such matter is going on in the high court,” the shop owners said.

An official from BMC’s K-West Ward said that a complaint was received three days ago. “We will inspect the plaza and decide what action can be taken,” the official said.

PIL activist and senior lawyer Shrikant Khandalkar, who is associated with the Maharashtra irrigation scam, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Nagpur on Sunday.

The Sitabuldi police found the activist’s body behind the district and session courts at the Nyay Mandir premises. Khandalkar had been missing since last Saturday.

Khandalkar was a PIL activist and had filed many PILs, including in the irrigation scam that had created ripples in the state.

Since the motive behind the death is unknown, Khandalkar’s family have sought for further police investigation.

After a PIL filed by Khandalkar, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court said that it had given the green signal for an open Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) enquiry against former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and former water resources minister Sunil Tatkare.

The two are alleged to have played a big role in the Rs 72,000-crore irrigation scam in Vidarbha. Under the suspicious circumstances he was found dead is matter of grave concern and it is to seen how the investigation goes ahead.

The same case was also initiated by Mrs Anjali Damania ex convener of AAP Maharashtra.

Guru Nanak Jyanti was celebrated in a grand manner in Mumbai. The cerebration entourage started from Sion-King Circle, Dadar T and terminated at Dadar Gurudwara in the evening.

Students, men and women had joined the celebrations in great numbers.

The Nagar Kirtan carried the Nishan Sahib followed by devotees singing hyms, brass bands playing different tunes and Gatka teams displaying their swordmanship through various martial arts. School children and Palki Shaib were seen carrying the holy book decorated with flowers.

Aaam Admi Party had volunteered in cleaning of the streets and had donated two trucks of food items on the occasion. Aam Admi Party volunteers seemed very active who had whole heartedly aprticipated in the program.

Jnanapith laureate playwright Girish Karnad. (File photo) The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha will lodge a complaint against Jnanapith laureate playwright Girish Karnad on Monday for his remarks on controversial ruler . “Our will lodge a police complaint against him in every district headquarters of Karnataka for fomenting communal tension. His remarks on Tipu were unwarranted,” said Mahasabha spokesperson Dharmendra in Mangaluru. Last week, on the occasion of the birth anniversary celebrations of Tipu Sultan, Girish had suggested that the government could have named the Bengaluru International Airport after the erstwhile ruler of Mysuru. “These so-called intellectuals are questioning about intolerance unnecessarily. Why didn’t they raise their voice when the majority communities faced oppression? Their acts of returning awards need to be criticised,” he added. The Karnataka government has assigned a special gunman 24/7 for the protection of noted playwright and Jnanpith laureate Girish Karnad following a threat to his life from miscreants in the wake of his comments on Tipu Sultan . Though the government has deployed heavy police security to his home, it decided to assign a gunman also. The gunman would accompany Girish Karnad in public places. Though the writer did not ask for any protection, the government decided on its own to offer police escort.

morning to ensure that Girgaum Chowpatty was free of litter after Anant Chaturdashi.
Students from SIES, SIWS, Lala Lajpatrai, Nagindas Khandvala, Sophia, Hinduja and Siddharth colleges joined in the drive, undertaken by Times Green Ganesha, a joint initiative of The Times of India and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. The Rotaract Club of Jai Hind College, EMDI Institute and KC College’s Nature and Environment Committee pitched in too. Shaina NC of I Love Mumbai Foundation, who participated too, said, “I urge citizens to use eco-friendly idols and immerse them in artificial ponds.”

This year, the BMC invited chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as a part of its clean-up drive under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. Fadnavis spent time with the volunteers and motivated them, while BMC chief Ajoy Mehta and state education minister Vinod Tawde told them to keep up the good work.