It's a well-known fact that hundreds of illegal structures have mushroomed in and around the city with full knowledge of the civic officials. However, there were no concrete figures to pin blame on the officials. On Wednesday, those numbers came from the horse's mouth.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal in an affidavit submitted to the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court admitted that there are over 1,163 illegal structures spread over 10 zones in the city. It included religious as well as nonreligious ones.
This was revealed during the hearing of a PIL filed by Dr Gajanan Zade and Manohar Khorgade who prayed for the directions to civic bodies to remove illegal structures that have become nuisance for the common man.
A division bench comprising justices Sharad Bobde and MN Gilani then asked the petitioners to file reply on the NMC's affidavit within two weeks. Citing Bombay Police Act, where the cops can take cognisable action against illegal encroachments like pandals for religious festivities, the petitioners claimed the police are doing nothing. Additionally, the NMC Act empowers the civic body to remove illegal encroachments, but it is also ignoring the issue, said the petitioners. They raised apprehensions about communal tensions due to these illegal religious structures and demanded a concrete framework to regularize them. Firdos Mirza was counsel for the petitioners. During last hearing, the court had directed NMC and NIT to conduct a survey of all illegal structures on city's roads, footpaths, government lands and open spaces and also asked them to come up with plans on their removal in a time bound manner.
Jaiswal's affidavit stated that there are 315 religious and 848 non-religious illegal structures in the city. Gandhibagh has highest density of such constructions followed by Lakadganj and Hanuman Nagar. But the petitioners believed that the numbers might be more than double, especially non-religious ones.
In earlier hearing, the court, in some terse words, asked the NMC and commissioner of police that "no roads should be blocked due to any illegal structure". They were also directed to fix responsibility on concerned officers for illegal structures blocking roads and proving impediment for smooth flow of traffic in their respective areas.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal in an affidavit submitted to the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court admitted that there are over 1,163 illegal structures spread over 10 zones in the city. It included religious as well as nonreligious ones.
This was revealed during the hearing of a PIL filed by Dr Gajanan Zade and Manohar Khorgade who prayed for the directions to civic bodies to remove illegal structures that have become nuisance for the common man.
A division bench comprising justices Sharad Bobde and MN Gilani then asked the petitioners to file reply on the NMC's affidavit within two weeks. Citing Bombay Police Act, where the cops can take cognisable action against illegal encroachments like pandals for religious festivities, the petitioners claimed the police are doing nothing. Additionally, the NMC Act empowers the civic body to remove illegal encroachments, but it is also ignoring the issue, said the petitioners. They raised apprehensions about communal tensions due to these illegal religious structures and demanded a concrete framework to regularize them. Firdos Mirza was counsel for the petitioners. During last hearing, the court had directed NMC and NIT to conduct a survey of all illegal structures on city's roads, footpaths, government lands and open spaces and also asked them to come up with plans on their removal in a time bound manner.
Jaiswal's affidavit stated that there are 315 religious and 848 non-religious illegal structures in the city. Gandhibagh has highest density of such constructions followed by Lakadganj and Hanuman Nagar. But the petitioners believed that the numbers might be more than double, especially non-religious ones.
In earlier hearing, the court, in some terse words, asked the NMC and commissioner of police that "no roads should be blocked due to any illegal structure". They were also directed to fix responsibility on concerned officers for illegal structures blocking roads and proving impediment for smooth flow of traffic in their respective areas.
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