Encroachments by hotels in sectors 9, 10, 17 razed

Encroachments by hotels in sectors 9, 10, 17 razed
Anti-encroachment department, in association with Vashi ward office, demolished encroachments made by hoteliers in sectors 9, 10 and 17. The action has brought relief to pedestrians, who were being deprived of the precious pavement space to walk.
As Vashi is the biggest business node of Navi Mumbai, it has a good number of hotels in each node, especially sectors 9, 10, 17. Due to high footfalls, these hoteliers usually try to utilize every bit of available space outside their hotel by putting up sheds or doing permanent construction work. Subhash Gaikar, Anti-Encroachment Officer, informs "During monsoon time we allow hoteliers to put up small temporary sheds in front of their hotels for the convenience of their customers. This marginal space is being misused by developing permanent sheds with concrete. They have also put up tables and chairs for customers to have food there. This is a violation of the marginal space. We have been receiving complaints from the residents as well from the Vashi Ward office regarding the same and hence we had to undertake demolition.
Gaikar informs, "Initially, we had asked hoteliers to free the encroached space, but as they failed to do so we had to take strict action and thus demolished the encroached area with the help of bulldozer. As a part of our drive with the help of Vashi ward officer Ashok Madhavi we have taken action against Vasundhara Hotel opposite Vashi Railway Station, Parichay Hotel and Navratna Hotel in Sector 17, Shabri and Sanjog Hotel in sector 9 and 10 Vashi and Bhagat Tarachand Hotel in Sanpada". "Vaidehi Hotel was the only one whose proprietors had taken off the shed by themselves when we asked them to. This is an ongoing drive and action will go on against many more such encroachers," says Gaikar. The demolitions have been welcomed by area residents and pedestrians who had to bear with traffic chaos. For years pedestrians were being forced to move on road due to encroachment of footpaths and misuse of marginal space by these hoteliers. “The corporation must now continue with the drive and must also have a vigilance cell to ensure that no such encroachment is allowed to come up in the first place," says T N Ganpathy, a resident of sector 10 Vashi.