Bhandup school to raze 27-yr-old ‘illegal’ structure
One of the two structures of Bhandup-based Indian Education Society (IES) School will be demolished tomorrow, after a resident alleged the school had encroached on her land.
The single-storey structure, constructed 27 years ago, caters to about 250 students in junior and senior KG sections, and will be demolished by the school itself in presence of BMC officials.
Trouble for the school started a few years ago, when Bhandup resident Pramila Pawar alleged that part of the structure was built on her land. She further alleged that BMC demolished a portion of her property at the school’s behest, and that school illegally erected fences and turned the structure into a kindergarten.
While agreeing to demolish the structure, the school insisted that the land belonged to its trust, and had been allotted by the Kanjur Marg Cooperative Housing Society. “We had a conditional approval to build this temporary structure,” Satish Lotlekar, a senior member of the IES Trust, said. “We agreed to demolish the structure after a letter from BMC saying we were allowed to build extra classrooms only after pulling down the temporary structure,” he added.
BMC, however, insisted that the structure was illegal. Assistant Engineer (S Ward) said, “The Building Proposals Department said that the school did not have permissions for the structure. Now, the school has replied that it will remove the structure on its own.” The civic documents obtained under the Right to Information Act guidelines said that the plot had been reserved for a municipality school and a playground.
The parents said that they were informed last week about their kids being shifted to new classrooms, but were not told about the reason. Sneha Mirgal, parent of a senior KG student, said: “We were told that children will be shifted to new classrooms in the main building.
They did not give us any reason but we heard that they are creating a playground.”
The single-storey structure, constructed 27 years ago, caters to about 250 students in junior and senior KG sections, and will be demolished by the school itself in presence of BMC officials.
Trouble for the school started a few years ago, when Bhandup resident Pramila Pawar alleged that part of the structure was built on her land. She further alleged that BMC demolished a portion of her property at the school’s behest, and that school illegally erected fences and turned the structure into a kindergarten.
The school was issued notices by BMC in October last year, asking it to produce the approvals from the Building Proposals department for constructing the building, a compound wall as well as a tin shed. Another letter, issued three months ago by the BMC assistant engineer and public information officer, S K Gosavi, confirmed that his office had not issued any development permission to the school.
While agreeing to demolish the structure, the school insisted that the land belonged to its trust, and had been allotted by the Kanjur Marg Cooperative Housing Society. “We had a conditional approval to build this temporary structure,” Satish Lotlekar, a senior member of the IES Trust, said. “We agreed to demolish the structure after a letter from BMC saying we were allowed to build extra classrooms only after pulling down the temporary structure,” he added.
BMC, however, insisted that the structure was illegal. Assistant Engineer (S Ward) said, “The Building Proposals Department said that the school did not have permissions for the structure. Now, the school has replied that it will remove the structure on its own.” The civic documents obtained under the Right to Information Act guidelines said that the plot had been reserved for a municipality school and a playground.
The parents said that they were informed last week about their kids being shifted to new classrooms, but were not told about the reason. Sneha Mirgal, parent of a senior KG student, said: “We were told that children will be shifted to new classrooms in the main building.
They did not give us any reason but we heard that they are creating a playground.”
