Teams raze illegal structures in Alibaug

Several homestays popular among Mumbaikars on the demolition list.

The Raigad district administration on Monday started tearing down illegal structures in Alibaug, where activists have alleged repeated violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

Most of the structures on authorities’ radar are homestays that are popular among Mumbaikars looking for a beachside retreat. Some businessmen from the city also operate cottages here. The CRZ notification of the Environment Protection Act prohibits constructions within 500 metres of the high tide line.

“We had issued notices to the local owners of 58 properties for disregarding the CRZ norms. We have now started the demolition drive. Rooms of a homestay called Shintrewadi were the first to go on Monday,” the Alibaug tahsildar, Sachin Shejal, told Mirror. He added the drive would continue for the next few weeks.

Shintrewadi, preferred by many Maharashtrian families, was one of the first homestays to come up on Nagaon beach. The property’s owners, the Shintres, who live in Shivaji Park, denied they had violated any rules and said the state was ignoring their contribution in promoting tourism in the region.

“We were the first ones to start beach tourism in Nagaon 30 years ago. The viceroy of India during the British rule gave this property as an ‘inam’ to my grandfather, Narayan Balwant Shintre, who was a superintendent in the General Post Office,” Siddharth Shintre said. “All these structures are over 90 years old and the district administration is committing grave injustice by demolishing our cottages, which were built before CRZ norms even came into existence.”

On why he had not moved court to stop the demolition like other homestay owners, he said: “That would mean I was doing something illegal.”

Besides the said 58 properties, over 150 bungalows, most of them belonging to Mumbaikars, have been red-flagged over alleged CRZ violations. Corporate honchos are among the owners.

Local activist Surendra Dhavale has been fighting a case against the bungalows in the Bombay High Court. The case is in the home stretch. He suspects Monday’s demolition drive is aimed at indirectly helping the bungalow owners. “The structures that are being razed belong to the locals, who will protest and win the public sympathy. Authorities will be forced to suspend the crackdown and this will benefit the bungalow owners. That seems to the game plan,” he claimed.