BMC pulls up hotel next to razed Jain temple for illegal construction
Mumbai: Barely a week after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) razed a Jain temple in the Neminath Co-operative Housing Society premises in Vile Parle East, the civic body on Wednesday issued a notice for unauthorised construction to Ramkrishna hotel, which owns a majority of the flats in the building.
The notice was issued under section 53(1) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1996 after civic officials compared the original building plan with the existing structure to ascertain alterations, sources in the civic body told Hindustan Times.
'We compared the changes with the approved plan of the building, which is with the BMC's development plan (DP) department, and issued the notice accordingly,' a BMC official told Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity.
The hotel owners have been asked to respond to the notice within 30 days, with documents showing the alterations are legal, failing which they will have to be demolished, he official mentioned.
Trustees of the now demolished Jain temple welcomed the move, saying they had been complaining about the hotel's unauthorised expansion for many years. The hotel owns several apartments in Neminath co-operative housing society which have been converted into guest rooms that are rented out commercially, they alleged.
'Besides, the hotel owners have constructed a makeshift brick and mortar structure right next the temple where its staff is housed,' said Anil Shah, a member of the Shree 1008 Digambar Jain Mandir Trust which managed the demolished temple. 'We have been complaining against the illegal constructions since 2006 but no action had been taken till now,' said Shah.
Similar notices for unauthorised construction had been issued earlier to the Jain temple, said trustees. On April 7, the city civil court had rejected the temple trust's plea against demolition but granted interim protection for seven days to allow the trust to appeal against the decision. While the interim protection expired on April 15, the temple was demolished the next day before the trustees got a stay order on the demolition from the Bombay high court.
The BMC's punitive action prompted thousands of Jains to hit the streets on April 19 for a massive silent rally. Protestors including trustees of the temple claimed that it was razed at the behest of the owners of Ramkrishna hotel, which wanted to expand its business to other parts of the housing society.
Three days later, on April 22, the state minority commission took cognisance of the matter and conducted a survey of the site. The commission rapped the BMC for acting in haste and using excessive force to raze the temple. It also directed the civic body to initiate action against all unauthorised structures in the premises.
'We conducted a survey of the premises following the commission's order to identify all the unauthorised structures,' said an official. 'We have issued a notice to the owners of Ramkrishna hotel based on the findings and more such notices will be issued as and when discrepancies are highlighted during inspection.'
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