Demolition work has started on 41 unauthorized buildings in Nallasopara, within the Vasai Virar region, following a directive from the Bombay High Court. To prevent any potential unrest, 200 police personnel have been deployed to oversee the operation. Last month eviction notice was issued to more than 2,500 families.
Bombay high court had refused to grant any relief to the occupants, observing that the 41 illegal buildings were “wholly illegal and unauthorised” and constructed on land reserved for a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground. The court disposed of a petition filed by the builder to regularise the buildings, and VVMC officials said they would go ahead with the demolition for which they had set a September 30 deadline.
The plot on which the illegal buildings were constructed measures around 30 acres, spanning survey numbers 22 to 30 in Agarwal Nagar, Nalasopara East. Some of the land is privately owned. Sitaram Gupta, a former corporator of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) party in the Vasai-Virar region, and his son Arun Gupta, began constructing the buildings on the land in 2006 without obtaining a construction permit or occupancy certificate later. The structures were deemed unauthorised, and between 2010 and 2012, a few were demolished.
Gupta was arrested by the Achole police in September 2022. He was accused of land-grabbing and constructing the 41 illegal buildings. Gupta had allegedly produced a bogus completion certificate for one of the buildings from CIDCO and VVMC.
An FIR against Gupta and his associate Vijay Tambat, alias Vijay Salvi, was filed in June 2023 by the municipal corporation. Both were declared absconding and were charged under Sections 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 474 (having possession of a forged document), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.