Aarey Forest Demolition: BMC Razes Dargah And Housing Structures

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday demolished a Sufi Islamic shrine and 10 adjoining housing tenements in Goregaon (East) as part of an ongoing anti-encroachment drive. Civic officials stated that the structures were part of a 70,000-square-foot encroachment on state government land situated near a forest buffer zone.

The demolition, executed with bulldozers and JCB machines under heavy police security, targets unauthorised structures on public land. It follows a series of recent civic actions across Mumbai, including the clearance of 500 slums in Bandra East last week and 150 structures in Mulund on May 31 to clear paths for major infrastructure projects. While locals asserted that the Dargah had stood at unit 32 inside the Aarey forest for more than 50 years, authorities acted on an official complaint lodged by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya.

The targeted land parcel belongs to the state government's dairy department and falls within the buffer zone of the state forest department. Occupants of the site had been served notices by both the state government and the BMC to vacate the premises and submit documents for verification.

"The state government had issued the occupants notices asking them to vacate the premises since the land is owned by them. Following which we (BMC) also issued notices citing coercive action and sought their documents for verification. During the process it was found that the land was captured illegally and we told them to vacate the premises at the earliest," a civic official told the The Indian Express.

The Indian Express reported that the occupants were given a deadline of May 31 to vacate the premises. The civic body moved in to raze the entire structure on Tuesday morning after the residents failed to comply with the order.

Following the operation, Somaiya issued a separate letter to Mumbai’s municipal commissioner and police commissioner, demanding a ban on offering Namaz on streets and public spaces.

"Such gatherings disrupt traffic and cause inconvenience to commuters, sometimes for nearly an hour. Even on working days, prayers are allegedly conducted at crowded and traffic-sensitive locations. No group should be allowed to obstruct the daily lives of citizens in the name of religion," Somaiya’s letter stated.

This clearance in Aarey is part of a broader, intensified campaign by civic and railway authorities against illegal structures obstructing public land and infrastructure development. As the The Indian Express reported, the BMC had previously demolished 150 structures across Mulund’s Amar Nagar and Khindipada to make way for the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project. With 384 total structures identified along the GMLR project alignment, an additional 234 residential and commercial structures are slated to be razed in the coming week.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)