Illegal Demolition: Gothavli village residents protest, block road

Illegal buildings being demolished by CIDCO at Gothavli village in Belapur, Navi Mumbai, on Tuesday. (Source: Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)

Tension prevailed in the Gothavli village in Navi Mumbai after residents spilled out on the Thane-Belapur road to protest the demolition of illegal buildings there on Tuesday. The police resorted to lathicharge and scores of protesters were taken into preventive custody.

According to the Navi Mumbai police, the demolition drive was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. “A cluster of illegal buildings, each one of three to four storeys, had come up in the village over the last one year, and was slated to be demolished. On Tuesday, officials with the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) reached the spot to begin the demolition. At the same time, residents came out on the Thane-Belapur road, blocking it for some time,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Shahaji Umap.

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Umap said that when the protest threatened to get out of hand, the policemen deployed at the spot had to resort to a mild lathi charge to assist the civic officials. Later, preventive detentions were initiated. The crowd was cleared within a couple of hours and traffic movement was restored slowly.

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“We took nearly 46 of the protesters into preventive custody and they were released later. No major law and order problem was reported,” Umap said.

An officer with the Navi Mumbai police added that a couple of the buildings were demolished by Tuesday evening and the rest would be demolished on Wednesday.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com