Mumbai: Industrial units prepare to collapse in Bhiwandi, more than 20 lakhs can be unemployed

Mumbai, Nov 27 (HS): Preparations are on to demolish thousands of industrial units of 62 villages of the Bhiwandi area in Mumbai. With this, more than 20 lakh people can be unemployed. Spread over 140 million square feet, this industrial area has mostly textile and warehousing centers. The administration has issued a public notice that it is a farming area, so all the construction here is ‘illegal’.

Sources told that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation and the state revenue department have started demolishing illegal construction in eight of these 62 villages last week. The Bombay High Court gave an order in this regard and in a subsequent survey it was also said that illegal buildings and structures on cultivated land should be destroyed.

More than 20 lakh direct and indirect workers work in these units. The sabotage was strongly opposed by the local residents and they also demonstrated against the authorities. On Monday, hundreds of people marched to the District Collectorate in protest. The local transporters union has announced a shutdown in Bhiwandi today or Wednesday. In fact, it is feared that vehicles carrying freight can be seized from the alleged ‘illegal’ warehouses.

Ninad Jayant, chairman of the Bhiwandi branch of Thane Small Scale Industries Association (TSSIA), said, “This area supplies all kinds of goods in Mumbai and Pune, from Amazon, Flipkart to many big corporate companies, pharmaceutical, FMCG companies.” There are warehouses in Bhiwandi. 140 million square feet have been constructed in these villages, of which 75 to 80 percent are warehouses and 20 to 25 percent are power looms, engineering, printing and packaging units.

TSSIA will meet on Wednesday and decide what action should be taken against it. Apart from calling a meeting of all gram panchayat heads, resorting to the court is also being considered. Jaywant said that most of these units were built 20 years ago when the units in Mumbai city were being moved out. There is a warehouse of 2.5 million square feet of Raymond and 2 lakh square feet of Godrej. E-commerce company Amazon has a warehouse in about 1 million square feet.

In 2007, MMRDA started developing this area under the industrial belt being built up to Palghar. From the year 2012, the rules were made very stringent. Jaywant said, ‘Now to get the license of a factory here, approval has to be taken from at least 25 other departments besides the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). Therefore, it has become impossible to set up small units here. They are harassing us now and no license is being given now on the pretext that construction on cultivated land is illegal.

He said, ‘It is not clear yet how many units have been declared illegal, because MMRDA has just issued a public notice instead of issuing separate notices. According to him, only 2 acres can be constructed in 10 acres of land.