Mumbai: Central Railway demolishes 74 K-type railway quarters near Dockyard Road station

A ‘den’ of anti-social elements in the suburban section was demolished by the Central Railway under heavy police bandobast (around 150 GRP, RPF, and city police personnel) on Friday.

74 K-type railway quarters located near Dockyard Road station were used by 4th class railway workers in the past. Due to their dilapidated condition, only ten quarters were occupied by railway workers. In the last seven years, the remaining vacant quarters had become a den of unsocial elements.

Apart from miscreants, 53 families have been illegally residing in these quarters since the last few years. Encroachers were not ready to vacate the premises. Hence, the railways was forced to take the help of local police, too.

A CR officer said that as most quarters of this railway colony were in an abandoned condition, they had become a den for anti-social elements. Since these homes were empty, the adult children of some railway employees themselves invited their friends over. Sometimes, strangers would just walk into these unlocked houses. At night, all sorts of people frequented these quarters, affecting the other families living here.”

When asked about the 10 railway workers residing in the colony, a senior railway official said, “All 10 workers’ families were relocated to a railway building before the demolition work began.”

Senior divisional security commissioner of CR, Jitendra Shrivastava said, “We were getting specific inputs regarding unauthorised use of these buildings as shelter by criminal elements."

Published on: Saturday, July 23, 2022, 09:41 AM IST