The city civic chief Sitaram Kunte has directed to vacate all buildings under C1 category (dangerous marked for demolition) in seven days, during a pre-monsoon assessment of 18 old and dilapidated buildings in the island city on Monday.

The evacuation notices to buildings in Chandanwadi at Marine Lines, Siddharth Vihar at Wadala and Pathan Chawl at Worli will be issued notices on Tuesday. However, the four-storey Podar High School, in Dadar, has already been vacated and will be razed in seven days.

In Siddharth Vihar, near Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar in Wadala nine families have not vacated their premises. The structure had been surveyed in 2006 and stated to be in the C1 category. The matter is sub-judice. Kunte directed Alka Sasane, assistant commissioner, F(north) ward, to move the Bombay High Court for permission to cut off electricity and water supply connections.

“We have prepared a list of buildings which are in extremely rickety condition. We will decide on demolition after consulting the technical committee. I will examine ramshackle buildings in the western suburbs on Tuesday and in the eastern suburbs on Wednesday,” said Kunte.

“Since the BMC doesn’t have the power to forcibly evacuate people from buildings declared unsafe, it is looking at filing a suo motu case against those refusing to vacate dilapidated buildings. The court can then order the police to forcefully vacate the building and the BMC will subsequently demolish it,” said a senior civic official. The BMC also plans to approach the metropolitan court under the CrPC, seeking directions to the police to take action against occupants refusing to vacate dilapidated buildings.
 

“Many MHADA and BMC-owned buildings and chawls in C and D wards are trapped in bureaucratic-maze and cannot undergo repairs. Redevelopment has stopped in many areas due to landlord-tenant disputes. This is a major hurdle and the main reason that these wards have the maximum number of dangerous and semi-dangerous buildings,” said a corporator.