Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has added another 30 structures to the list of illegal shrines being considered for demolition, taking their total number to 1,278.

The city-level committee formed to take decisions about illegal religious structures held a meeting on Tuesday. The committee headed by municipal commissioner Virendra Singh finalized orders to add 30 illegal religious structures to the old list. The committee has given relief to seven illegal structures as they were on private land.

After the Supreme Court’s order dated September 29, 2009, NMC had identified 1,521 illegal religious structures between 2011 and 2013. The civic body had regularized 18 as they were heritage structures. A list of 175 structures was forwarded to the state-level committee, as they were constructed before 1960.

Of the remaining 1,328 structures, NMC had received objections about 80 in 2014. Therefore, NMC had finalized list of 1,248 and started demolitions.

Four years later, the city-level committee started hearings on the 80 objections and finalized orders in 37 cases.

“Objections on 30 structures have been rejected as they are on government land, roads or footpaths, and without any sanction. Hearings in 48 of remaining 50 have been completed. Hearing on two objections will be held next Tuesday. Orders in remaining cases will come soon,” a NMC official said.

On the dispute between NMC and NIT, the committee directed NIT to take responsibility of 546 structures.

NMC had asked NIT to demolish 546 structures as they were on NIT land or in its jurisdiction. But NIT tabled a note before the high court last week claiming it had responsibility of only 330 structures. This created a dispute between NMC and NIT.

Meanwhile, NMC continued to demolish illegal religious structures on roads. On Tuesday, two structures were demolished under Satranjipura zone and one under Lakadganj zone. NMC did not demolish three structures after receiving objections.

Also, NMC has continued demolition of encroachments on footpaths. A drive was carried out in Mominpura, where the NMC team witnessed strong opposition. The protesters damaged the windscreen of an excavator by pelting stones.

Enforcement inspector Sanjay Kamble said the team had gone to raze encroachments on pavements on the stretch from Mominpura gate-Mominpura Chowk-Motibagh Road to Ansar Nagar. The encroachers tried to prevent the team from clearing footpaths. However, with heavy police bandobast, the squad razed illegal constructions and seized a truck full of material.

