Kapil’s bribe charge backfires, BMC points at more violations

Stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma’s bribe tweets against the BMC seems to have backfired, with the civic body claiming that the artist had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also in his apartment in suburban Goregaon.

"We received two complaints from separate people about illegal construction being done in Sharma's both premises, one in Versova and another in Goregaon. In both the cases, we followed the due procedure and first served notice before initiating action," said a senior BMC official, seeking anonymity.

"In the Versova case, the Corporation had served a notice on him 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 another complaint is concerned, he was served notice under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act in April for unauthorised work on his 9th floor apartment at Goregaon (West)," he said.

Kapil had on Friday kicked up a row when he tweeted that BMC officers sought a bribe of Rs 5 lakh for the construction of his premises in Versova. However, he has not so far, put forth his side on the allegations of violation of norms levelled by the civic body.

Asked why BMC took 19 days to demolish illegal structure at Versova, 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 the copies or permissions to justify their work and wait for the reply. Meanwhile, we uploaded the contents and nature of the complaint at complaint tracking portal too." 

"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 it while monitoring it till it is redressed," said Masurkar, adding that the procedure wipes out all the chances of corruption.