In one of the biggest demolition drives, the Lonavla Municipal Council (LMC) pulled down around 400 illegal structures till Tuesday evening.

Illegal portions of several bungalows in Khandala owned by the rich of Mumbai and prominent hotels such as Rama Krishna and Kumar World came under the hammer.

Over 100 employees of the LMC backed by a 150-strong police contingent demolished the unauthorised structures as per the directives of the Bombay high court.

According to the Lonavla administration, the drive which began on February 2 will continue till all the 752 illegal buildings are demolished.

Speaking to DNA, LMC's administrative officer, Ashok Jadhav, said, "Around 400 illegal structures have been demolished till date. There is no going back on the drive as all the 752 illegal structures will be demolished in accordance with the directives of the high court."

Jadhav said that although bungalows belonging to Mumbai residents had been demolished, "none of them were VIPs or prominent people."

The drive began after the LMC came under severe criticism from the Bombay High Court in its response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by Lonavla-Khandala Citizens' Forum (LKCF).

A division bench of chief justice Swantater Kumar and justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, which heard the petition filed by LKCF in connection with the illegal buildings and unauthorised constructions in Lonavla and Khandala pulled up the chief executive officer, the administrative officer and the urban development department secretary.

Displeased with the non-compliance of its earlier express orders, the Bombay high court had imposed a fine of Rs3,000 on each of them.

The judges in their order dated January 21 came down heavily on the LMC and observed that the administrative officer had intentionally filed a false affidavit without referring to the orders of the court and failed to provide correct information. The judges termed the act as an attempt to mislead the court.

The judgement also criticised the state government for failing to exercise its control over the municipal council on the issue of the unauthorised structures.

The LMC had earlier informed the court that 172 structures were demolished after the court's December 11, 2008 order.

Of these, 120 structures were in the main market area.

The LMC is a B-grade municipal council with an annual earning pegged at Rs20 crore and an additional grant of Rs16 crore from the state government.

Hailing the court's directive, LKCF co-ordinator Fergus Misquitta said, "The high court has slammed the LMC for its ineffective functioning in dealing with the rising number of encroachments and unauthorised constructions. The environment of the hill station cannot be destroyed in this manner and hence the issue was taken up for the cause of the public."

Lonavla Municipal Council president Bhupendra Raju Chaudhary said that although he was unhappy with the widespread demolitions he had no choice but to abide by the law.

He said that the impact of the demolitions on the poor needed to be taken into consideration.

Lonavla is an environmentally sensitive region that has the unauthorised constructions and illegal land purchase activities.

Nadeem Inamdar/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication