NIT finally demolishes Futala waterfront shops

Nagpur: Two years after termination of agreement, Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) finally razed all 22 shops on Futala waterfront, which was one of the top hangout spots of the city.
MahaMetro, which is building an amphitheatre-cum-road tunnel on the land, had recently written a letter to the NIT that its project was getting delayed due to delay in removal of encroachments.

In last ditch effort, the shopkeepers had filed a petition in Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Wednesday to prevent the demolition. An urgent hearing was held on Thursday morning. However, the HC refused to stay the operation.

The judgment was pronounced at about 12.30pm and thereafter the NIT gave two hours to the shopkeepers to remove their belongings. The demolition began with PP Dhankar, NIT’s executive engineer (west) and Manohar Patil, NIT’s demolition officer, monitoring the operation.

As soon as the HC refused to grant a stay, an NIT officer went to SNDL’s Seminary Hills office and asked the officials to disconnect the shops. SNDL staffers promptly did that. The demolition then began from the Hanuman Temple T-point end and proceeded towards Amravati Road. The operation was over by 6pm.

The shopkeepers were distraught by the decision and blamed public representatives for failing to come to their rescue. “NIT gave us so little time that we could not find godowns to keep our goods. Are we supposed to dump the goods on road,” asked a shopkeeper.

Ritesh Kalra, counsel for the shopkeepers, slammed the NIT for demolishing its own project and demanded that the affected persons should be rehabilitated.

Some 59 cops including officers were present at the site to prevent any opposition from the shopkeepers. The main contingent was from Ambazari police station under inspector PS Khandale, who sent 30 cops and seven officers. Rest were from Sitabuldi, Gittikhadan and Dhantoli police stations. The cops have demanded Rs1.40 lakh for providing protection.

The Futala waterfront project was the brainchild of former NIT chairman Manu Kumar Srivastava, who conceptualized it in 2003. However, it remained on paper and the tender was floated in 2010. The contract was awarded to Sell Ads.

Sell Ads was to develop 22 semi-permanent and mobile food kiosks on the waterfront. It was to leave space between the kiosks for parking and seating. The operator instead asked the shop owners to go in for permanent constructions. Even though only single storey structures were permitted, some shop owners had started rooftop restaurants. NIT, however, turned a blind eye towards the violations.

Sell Ads paid royalty to the NIT for four years but started defaulting from the fifth. The firm told NIT that shopkeepers were not paying the rent and asked the civic agency to demolish the establishments. The agreement with the operator ended on August 16, 2016. Sell Ads owes more than Rs50 lakh to the NIT.

Shopkeepers didn’t pay property tax

NIT executive engineer (west) ,Dhankar, said that the shopkeepers had not paid property tax to Nagpur Municipal Corporation for several years and the arrears have climbed to Rs2.25 crore. “The NMC had written a letter to us requesting to recover the amount from the shopkeepers. We told the NMC that they were encroachers and not our lessees,” he added.