NMC revives Kachipura eviction drive, 56 commercial units to get 15-day notice | Nagpur News

Nagpur: Days after Maharashtra govt vacated a decade-old stay on action against illegal constructions on land belonging to Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) at Kachipura, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has initiated steps to resume proceedings against 56 commercial establishments spread over nearly 19.82 hectares along Central Bazar Road. Civic officials, however, clarified that there is no proposal at present to demolish the adjoining notified Kachipura slum, which houses around 1,200 residents.Dharampeth zone assistant municipal commissioner Rajkumar Meshram told TOI that notices under Section 53(1) of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966, would be issued shortly, granting occupants 15 days to either remove unauthorised structures or NMC would raze them.“We are preparing the notices and the draft will be placed before senior officials for approval. All occupants will be given 15 days under MRTP Act. Proceedings will be taken up in accordance with law,” Meshram said.The action follows urban development department’s June 23 order rejecting an appeal filed by a group of occupants and vacating interim protection granted in 2016. The state govt held that NMC was justified in rejecting applications seeking building permissions and initiating demolition proceedings in 2015.Meshram said notices had been served on the establishments in 2015 and hearings of 26 applicants who challenged the action had already been completed. “All 56 encroachments are proposed to be removed,” he said, adding the matter is also scheduled to come up before the high court on June 29.The disputed tract, located between Bajaj Nagar Square and Kachipura Square behind East Shankar Nagar, has gradually transformed into a busy commercial belt comprising restaurants, banquet halls, marriage lawns, gas godowns, automobile servicing centres, offices and other businesses. Civic officials said several establishments are allegedly owned or backed by politically influential persons.NMC had initiated proceedings under sections 53 and 55 of the MRTP Act in July 2015 after detecting large-scale unauthorised commercial activity on agricultural land leased to PDKV under Khasra Nos. 104 to 209. Apart from lacking sanctioned building permissions, many establishments were allegedly functioning without mandatory no-objection certificates from NMC’s fire and emergency services department.Meshram reiterated that there is no proposal at present to undertake demolition of the adjoining slum settlement. Officials privy to the development said any move to clear Kachipura would first require its denotification by the state govt and preparation of a rehabilitation package for eligible residents. Until then, the notified slum remains protected from civic demolition action, even as commercial encroachments have once again come under NMC’s crosshairs.