Bulldozers rolled into Mumbai’s Malad area on Friday to raze dozens of film studios, a day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) passed an order deeming them illegal. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started the demolitions this morning as these studios had misused permissions and built permanent structures instead of temporary ones.
Videos were doing rounds on social media platforms showing bulldozers taking down the illegal film studios.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who has acted as the whistle-blower on the issue, took to Twitter on Thursday and alleged that the former MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray had given permission for these structures.
“₹1000 crores illegal Film Shooting Studios constructed during 2021 with the Ashirwad of Thackeray Sarkar Ministers Aslam Sheikh & Aditya Thackeray,” the BJP leader tweeted.
“The work of demolishing dozens of unauthorized studios worth 1000 crores will begin. Tomorrow at 11 am, I will also be present,” he said.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the NGT in its order stated they found the permission was only for setting up a temporary structure for the purpose in question. However, the film studios had set up huge structures in which a lot of steel and concrete material was used.
The NGT stated, as quoted in the report, “In our assessment, such structures cannot be held to be of temporary nature by their size and the material used but the studios claimed that these structures were prepared using eco-friendly material, therefore, and they should be treated to be of temporary nature.”
The NGT further added that there was a “blatant violation” as the structures were not removed before moving further application for granting temporary permission for raising construction.
