Mumbai Anti-Encroachment Drive: Stone pelting during an anti-encroachment drive injured 15 police officers, five civic engineers, and an equal number of labourers in north-east Mumbai's Powai on Thursday, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials.

They claimed that the incident occurred at 1 PM in the Jai Bhim Nagar slum area, near Hiranandani Hospital. The BMC in a release issued in the evening, stated that temporary houses had been built on plots in Powaigaon and Mauje Tirandaj village and that the State Human Rights Commission had urged the civic body to take action against these structures.

The anti-encroachment drive began on June 1 after all legal processes were taken, including notices to hutment dwellers under Section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, according to the release, and the residents were ordered to dismantle the structures themselves or face legal action.

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The hutment occupants were also served with notices under Section 55 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, the statement added.

“The civic administration followed the set procedure. Also, enough time was given (to hutment dwellers) prior to issuing notice. The encroachment removal action began as soon as security was received from Mumbai police,” the civic statement informed.

An official stated that the civic anti-encroachment team had gone there to remove what appeared to be 400 illegal structures from an open plot, along with a posse of police officers for security. However, residents began to demonstrate, claiming that they had been residing there for the previous 25 years.

The inhabitants of Jai Bhim Nagar claimed that on June 1, the civic body issued them eviction notices wrongly. Some protesters began pelting stones despite police cautions to enable municipal anti-encroachment action to continue, according to an official.