A day after stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma’s tweet on bribe demands by BMC officials, the civic body claimed on Saturday that the artiste had flouted norms not only at his office building in Versova but at his apartment in Goregaon too.
A senior BMC official said, “We received two separate complaints about illegal construction in two premises owned by Sharma, one in Versova and the other in Goregaon. In both cases, we followed the due procedure and first served a notice before initiating action.”
He added that in the Versova case, the BMC had served a notice on July 16. “Since he did not pay heed to it, we demolished the illegal portion of his office structure on August 4. As far as the other complaint is concerned, he was served a notice under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act in April for unauthorised work in his ninth-floor apartment in Goregaon (West),” the official said.
Mr. Sharma had kicked up a row on Friday when he tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi that BMC officials had sought a bribe of Rs. 5 lakh for regularising the construction of his office building in Versova. However, he has not revealed the identities of the officials allegedly involved.
Asked why BMC took 19 days to demolish the illegal portion of the Versova building, Parag Masurkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner K-West ward, where Sharma’s office is located, said, “Generally we do give some extra time to the occupants or owners of the premises to put forward copies or permissions to justify their work, and wait for the reply. Meanwhile, we uploaded the contents and nature of the complaint on the complaint tracking portal.”
He added, “We have devised an online complaint tracking system. When we receive any complaints, we go to the site, take photographs and on that basis we generate the notices and upload them. This procedure eliminates any scope for corruption.”
Mr. Masurkar said Mr. Sharma had carried out unauthorised horizontal extension in his ground-plus-one storey row house in Versova and had constructed on the upper floor without obtaining mandatory permissions from the civic body. “Since he did not come forward to show the copies of permissions obtained, we followed the rule and demolished it as and when we got police security.”
Later in the day, Mr. Sharma said in a statement: “I have only expressed my concerns. However, it has taken a shape of an unnecessary controversy. My space is on the entertainment platform and not on the news platform. I am not a part of any political organisation and nor do I intend to be. I have utmost respect for the honourable Prime Minister and governments, both Union and State, their agencies and statutory bodies. I am a law-abiding citizen and shall act as legally advised. This was my anger against corruption, which I expressed on Twitter.” — w ith PTI inputs
Mr. Sharma is yet to reveal the identities of the officials who allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 5 lakh
