Anti-squatter squad official assaulted

THANE: For the third time in a month, an official of the Thane Municipal Corporation TMC)''s anti-encroachment squad was assaulted on Thursday, this time allegedly by former mayor and Shiv Sena MLC, Anant Tare himself.
On Thursday, Mr Tare and his supporters allegedly assaulted assistant municipal commissioner, Manish Joshi 37) when and his staff went to demolish illegal weather sheds in the Vrindawan Housing Society area.
Incidentally, though Mr Joshi has been admitted to the ICCU of the Thane civil hospital, the police have not booked Mr Tare and his supporters for assault.
Instead, he and a few others have been booked for unlawful assembly and trying to prevent a public official from doing his duty. The police have not arrested Mr Tare but picked up five others for the offence.
Civic officials wondered how Mr Tare had been in the city to stall demolition of illegal structures when in fact, he should have been in Nagpur attending the winter session of the state legislature.
Significantly, BJP corporators from Vrindawan, Milind Patankar and Madhavi Naik, had themselves demanded in the general body meeting of the TMC last month that the structures be demolished.
Only last month, some vendors had pelted stones at Mr Joshi''s squad when he went to demolish the old market on the railway station road.
A fortnight ago, he was allegedly assaulted by a lodge near near Ashok Cinema during a demolition drive.
A month ago, municipal commissioner, K.P. Bakshi had stripped the membership of BJP corporator from Kalwa, Bala Sawant,who had allegedly assaulted another assistant commissioner Rajesh Kanade last month. Mr Sawant, however, has obtained a stay from the Bombay high court.