Illegal structure off Mumbai coast razed after Raj Thackeray's disapproval

A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray flagged the issue of an illegal structure on a small islet in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mahim in Mumbai, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis swung into action and razed it on Thursday.

In his Gudi Padwa rally at Shivaji Park on Wednesday, Raj played a drone-shot video of the dargah which has come to what appears to be a small island or reclamation just off the Hazrat Makhdoom Shah Baba dargah at Mahim.

However, Suhail Khandwani, the managing trustee of Mahim Dargah and Haji Ali Dargah, said that it was not a dargah and they would fully cooperate with the administration. “It was chilla, not the dargah,” Khandwani said.

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A chilla or chilla-nashini is a spiritual practice of penance and solitude in the Sufi tradition.

Raj said in his rally, "…Whose grave is it?... Is it of a fish… It was not there a couple of years ago… What is happening here?… Is a new Haji Ali dargah coming up?… Two years ago there was nothing… Just demolish this illegal construction within 30 days… If not then we would construct a huge Ganpati temple at the same place…”

Raj urged Shinde, Fadnavis, Mumbai’s municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and Mumbai’s police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar to immediately look into the issue and act.

The Mumbai City Collector’s office immediately swung into action and sent teams to spot the structure, and within hours the illegal structure around the platform was brought down.

Maharashtra’s Marathi language minister Deepak Kesarkar said that the proceedings were initiated under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ)". “If any kind of construction has to be done in the sea, due permission must be taken under the CRZ from concerned authorities,” he said.