WR promises new infra

CPRO says better travel experience on the card

Mumbai: The Western Railway has decided to utilise the space vacated after demolishing the illegal structures at Garib Nagar in Bandra (East) for creating better infrastructure such as an integrated Railway Complex and facility for more cars.

“This demolition will also reduce the traffic congestion and chaos that people experienced before. The new infrastructure will be built to enhance the travel experience for the people,” said Western Railway Chief Public Relation Office Vineet Abhishek. “We disposed of most of the rubble that got collected due to demolition. I cannot say much about the use of this space, but we are planning to build an integrated Railway Complex,” he told reporters.

Abhishek said the Western Railways have been successful in demolishing all the illegal structures on its land in Garib Nagar. “Almost 100 per cent of the illegal structures have been demolished and removed. We ensured that the ground floor doesn’t get damaged. Our staff are manually removing the houses. The entire work is likely to be over by Saturday,” he said.

Abhishek acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s order helped their demolition drive. “The Supreme Court had put a special leave petition. This was the second time that this happened. On April 19, the Bombay High Court gave a judgment in our favour. The Supreme Court also agreed with the judgment. This gives a message that the action that we are taking is absolutely right, and their judgment only strengthened us.”

Around 100 structures built at the demolition spot were legal, and the Western Railway has taken utmost care of safeguarding those structures. “The Bombay High Court had ordered that these 100 legal structures cannot be demolished. The ground floor of these structures will not be demolished and will be kept as it is. Structures built upon the upper floors of these 100 legal structures are illegal. We will remove them as well,” Abhishek said.

One of the dwellers Ramzan Shaikh said most of the dwellers whose structures were demolished found it difficult to get houses. “Some got houses for rent, but most of them are without homes. People here are from the 70’s and 80’s. There has been no proper survey done. We haven’t had a bath in four days. There is no aid from the government, and we have become completely homeless.”

When asked about the stone pelting, Shaikh said, “The stone pelting happened because they were demolishing a mosque.”