SURAT: The city civic body received 82 complaints related to illegal and unauthorised commercial constructions in 2023 and 2024. While 71 illegal structures were removed, action is being taken against the remaining structures.
These figures came up as part of a reply to Congress MLA from Vansda, Anant Patel, in the assembly. Patel asked for these details after he came to know about rampant illegal constructions in the city.
“I shared the reply to people in Surat, and they were shocked. People told me that they are aware of several illegal constructions in their area,” Patel told TOI.
To find out the exact details about the complaints and action taken against these structures, Patel said he will write to the govt. “The reply about the number of illegal structures is not convincing. In such a huge city, if only these many complaints about unauthorised structures have been made, then it is unusual,” said Patel.
“To understand the entire process, I will now ask what was illegal about the structures and how the civic body keeps watch on such structures and takes action,” said Patel.
In the past, police filed at least 46 FIRs against individuals who were trying to extort money from people by threatening to get their properties demolished. Those named in the FIRs gathered details about the illegal structures using RTI and then threatened the owners to publish news about their unauthorised properties
