A King Circle-based garment shop owner has alleged that the BMC didn’t keep its promise of handing over a rebuilt shop in its original state prior to demolition in 2019.
According to the owner, Nitu Bhamri, he has been running his establishment, Guggi, below the King Circle railway footover bridge since 1982.
He further said that he had even borrowed a Rs 50 lakh loan for renovation of the shop but in 2019 the BMC executive engineer informed him that his shop will be razed so as to reconstruct the footover bridge. Back then, the civic official even assured that the shop will be rebuilt again once the project finishes, Nitu averred, adding that he was handed over a shop made of tin sheds, while the pre-demolished structure was made of concrete.
He further said that he has been pursuing his cause with the BMC and railway for the past two years, but to no avail. He also pointed out that the executive engineer had shown him a proposal which clearly stated that the “shop will be reinstated but he didn’t keep his promise”. In the meanwhile, the railway wrote three letters to the BMC for the reinstatement of the said shop.
Fed up with the circumstances, Nitu last week approached social activist, Vidya Vaidya, and the duo met BMC additional commissioner (Project), P Velrasu, and expressed their grievances. According to Bhamri, Velrasu then pulled up the executive engineer for not reinstating the said shop. However, when FPJ tried to contact Velrasu he didn’t respond to the message.
While BMC bridges department chief engineer, Satish Thosar, told FPJ, "We are waiting for railways to respond. Once that information is received, we will start construction and give him (Nitu) a concrete structure."
