Andheri society left open to miscreants after BMC demolishes boundary wall

Debris of the broken periphery of the Andheri West society stacked up inside the colony PicsFalguni AgarwalA 65yearold colony in Andheri West has been left precariously open to the main road after a recent BMC demolition drive Dhake Colony CoOperative Housing Society located on JP Road very close to Apna Bazaar has porous borders Angry residents say the civic authorities conducted a oneday demolition drive a week ago to remove the numerous hawkers and small tin shops on the footpath on the periphery of the colony and this is the resultAll fall downldquoThese hawkers and small shops were literally standing against the barbedwire fencing surrounding our colony When the shops were being demolished by the BMC our fencing broke too as the machines brought down the shops and with it broke the fencing Now we are left without a boundary protectionrdquo said resident Manoj Mukatiwala who is the society treasurerSociety chairman Anand Shirali said ldquoThe demolition drive literally prised the shops from the ground and broke them Because they abutted our fencing that too was uprooted including the concrete columns on which the barbed wire stood Now the entire colony comprising five buildings is open like a maidan with people free to enter and all kinds of persons trespassing near our homesrdquoClimate of fearA visit to the colony validates residentsrsquo fear In the absence of a perimeter passersby walking on the extremely busy road outside were seen crossing inside the sizeable housing enclave A security cabin with a guard stands at the main gate but it is impossible for him to keep vigil over the entire colonyHawkers with their trademark resilience too have returned on the footpath from where they were evicted When this reporter visited the spot many of them had actually kept some of their wares inside the colony Residents Jyoti Shetty Aruna Bhatt and Hema Mukatiwala said ldquoWe are so apprehensive and feel so vulnerable Children have to be watched very closely when they play outside as there is no protection There is at least one parent keeping an eye on kids playing in the compound In todayrsquos times we simply cannot let them out of our sight especially with easy access for all in this housing enclaverdquoQuestion of safetySaid Ramila Gala managing committee member ldquoWe are fearful The ground floor homes are especially susceptible to crime We have so many senior citizens We see that small shops and hawkers who were removed from the footpath have already started returning We donrsquot want to take away anybodyrsquos livelihood but with no wall they the hawkers are inching into our boundary How do we stop themrdquoEven as Gala was speaking a hawker was actually picking up her wares from near a home inside the colony to set up shop outside Residents Sanjay Kaushok and Satish S pointed to some tin planks and other material lodged in another corner of their colony ldquoThis too belongs to a vendor who stored it here during eviction Now when we ask whose it is they keep saying lsquowe donrsquot know the owner is away wait he will come and take itrsquordquo they saidThrow it backKaushok who has been in the colony since birth remembered the time when ldquomaximum demolitions used to happen during municipal commissioner Khairnar who had earned the epithet lsquodemolition manrsquo for his ruthless drivesrdquoldquoI remember pitched battles When the BMC would move in for eviction hawkers and makeshift shop owners would flee actually throwing their wares over the wire into our colony When we used to complain to Khairnar he would say lsquowell throw them back on the roadrsquo A throwing match would ensuerdquo he saidShirali said ldquoWe have to rebuild the boundary wall I have a quotation of R380 lakh for 670 sqm of barbedwire perimeter along with a cement base for the wire to stand on The society will now have to cough up this amount and work will take at least 10 days We have an emergency committee meeting on the weekend to discuss the expenserdquoNo complaint recordedKwest wardrsquos Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prashant Gaikwad however said ldquoWe have not received any complaint from the residents I am also not aware that shops have started springing up again I will check that If the residents say the wire has been broken during demolition they can get it put up again it will take a day at the most it is a fairly straightforward job However I had no clue this had happened as the BMC has not been told about this We will take care about any such eventuality in the futurerdquoBut Shirali signed off angrily speaking for the 52 members of the colony ldquoWe will have to spend from our funds for the repairs If the BMC claims it takes only one day to replace the fencing I ask them to send me the person who will do this in one day and we at Dhake colony will ensure he gets an entry into the Guinness Book of World RecordsrdquoCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go