Amid protests, illegal slums demolished at Khanda Colony

NAVI MUMBAI: The Controller of Unauthorised Construction (CUC), Cidco, Navi Mumbai, faced stiff resistance from slum dwellers while cracking the whip on illegal slums that had encroached upon a large tender plot of 4,000 square meter in Khanda Colony on Tuesday.
Amid protests, the team cleared the area so that possession can be given to the land owner soon.The local police had to intervene for a negotiation, which lasted for almost two hours.
Finally, the Cidco squad struck on the illegal shanties and cleared the area. “We belong to the tribal community and the government has done nothing for our settlement. Suddenly Cidco rolled the bulldozer on our houses,” said a slum dweller.
Amol Deshmukh, assistant controller of unauthorised construction, Cidco said, “We are under instruction from our marketing department to vacate this huge plot of one acre, which has been allotted to a party, but the possession has been a tricky task.
The possession will take place only after demolition of the encroachments. We cleared the shanties yesterday.” Besides shanties, shops, hotels and garages were also razed near Asudgaon Depot area which had created congestion.