NAGPUR: In a first, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) anti-encroachment squad took action against two restaurants including a rooftop illegal hookah parlour in tony Abhyankar Nagar and another restaurant on Hingna road on Wednesday.
The action was jointly conducted by Laxmi Nagar zone and NMC’s fire and emergency services department, said assistant municipal commissioner Suwarna Dakhane.
The first action was taken at G+3 storey Pooja Arcade where SR Cafe Restaurant and Smoking Zone had come up on the rooftop of the building. The restaurant was constructed illegally without any permission from Nagpur Municipal Corporation, even though it is completely a residential building. The owner Mohammed Shakil Khan had not obtained any permission to run the restaurant from the fire department, said chief fire officer Rajendra Uchake.
“We found the rooftop restaurant was constructed with bamboos and even the kitchen was set up near the tarpaulin posing fire threat,” he said.
Dakhane said the owner had also encroached upon the building’s basement and converted it for playing snooker.
The assistant commissioner said the owner tried to prevent the action by claiming of a stay order which he had procured from the high court. Initially, the team stopped the action midway but upon verification, we learnt that there was no such stay order against Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s zone and fire department to take action, she said.
“Today, we have demolished half of the rooftop structure and remaining illegal construction will be razed within a couple of days,” she said.
Later, the squad moved towards Hingna road to take action against a terrace restaurant which too was illegal. Dakhane said the hotel being run by Hemant Darvekar did not obtain no-objection certificate from the fire department.
She, however, claimed that only part of the hotel structure was demolished as the owner has assured to remove the construction on his own.
According to fire department official, it has served notices to 169 bars (out of 293) for violating fire safety compliance. Similar action was initiated against five hookah parlours and four rooftop restaurants.
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 anti-encroachment squad took action against two restaurants including a rooftop illegal hookah parlour in tony Abhyankar Nagar and another restaurant on Hingna road on Wednesday.){kind=link}