BMC chief restarts grievance meetings

MUMBAI: BMC commissioner Subodh Kumar faced uncomfortable questions from citizens on civic issues at his first public grievance meeting held on Thursday. The session went on for over 90 minutes.
Among the complainants were some aggrieved Borivli residents who came with a plea to demolish some illegal floors constructed in their building.
Incidentally, TOI had carried a report on Thursday that Kumar had issued a circular to demolish all unauthorised floors.
About Kumar issuing a circular to the building proposal department of the BMC that all illegal floors in a building without the approval of the BMC would be demolished.
The circular gave a ray of hope to the Borivli residents, as their persistent efforts to demolish the illegal floors, have gone in vain since 2000. "For 10 years, we have met all municipal commissioners in such Lok Adalats, but there were no results. When we met the R-Ward building proposal department official he threatened to cut off power for bringing up this issue. Instead of taking action against the builder and the architects, the official was asked to regularize the illegal floors in 2008," said Rakesh Arora, a Borivli resident. "The BMC issued a notice to pay the penalty to regularize the floors. When I objected, civic bodyissued MRTP notices to demolish the floors. But till date, there is a status quo on the issue," he said.
Arora says that the builder alone can never succeed in constructing illegal floors. "It's always in connivance with the BMC's building proposal department. This department must monitor the work in progress while a construction takes place. As a last resort, I've moved court against the BMC," he added The Thursday session was Kumar's first meeting with citizens, since he took charge as municipal chief early this month.
The Lok Shahi exercise and public grievance meetings are conducted based on a directive by the state government and is followed over the years. But civic sources said that the practice of holding public grievance meetings had been discontinued. Kumar will now meet the public every Thursday. "It could be because it was compulsory for municipal commissioners to attend Lok Shahi and not public grievance meetings. But the former municipal chief would send his representatives to attend to the public," said a source.
When TOI asked Kumar if the meetings would serve the purpose, he said, "I have given instructions on each file that comes to me. Officials will check if it's in compliance and what further action needs to be taken."