The Bombay High Court today ruled that demolition of the 33,000 illegal hutments at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivli, cannot wait till alternative accommodation is provided to the hutment dwellers. The HC also asked the state government to at least recover the construction cost from the hutment dwellers while rehabilitating them.

On a petition filed by Bombay Environment Action Group and others, the HC had, on May 7, 1997, directed the forest department to demolish all illegal hutments within a period of 18 months. When the matter came up for hearing recently, the state government told the court a policy for rehabilitating the dwellers had been formulated. Around 15,000 dwellers who have encroached on park land after January 1, 1995 have been removed, while 33,000 dwellers who have encroached before January 1, 1995 are yet to be removed, as there's no suitable land available within city limits. The state then requested HC to denotify or deletethe 500-hectare land occupied by the dwellers from the park. But the request was turned down by HC, which directed the state to rehabilitate the dwellers.

In an affidavit filed before court today, the government has identified four places outside Mumbai to provide accommodation to the hutment dwellers. The places are Thane (39.560 hectares), Kalyan (499.310 hectares), Sahapur (76.720 hectares) and Vasai (29.383 hectares). The net area available for rehabilitation is 586.323 hectares.

After going through the affidavit, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashok Agarwal and Justice Ajit Shah said the demolition cannot wait till alternative accommodation is provided. The judges said temporary structures can be constructed on pitches of the four places identified by the state for rehabilitation and added that construction cost should be charged from the dwellers. If there are any new encroachments on the park, they ruled, the forest department should demolish the structures without any prior notice.Oswal Petrochem asked to lift lockout n AN Industrial Court recently directed Oswal Petrochemcials to lift the lockout declared by it in its Chembur plant and pay wages to its workmen. The order was passed on an application of the employees union seeking interim relief. According to the application, the company abruptly shut down the plant for carrying our repairs and maintenance work. No notice was given.

The union said the company gave notice of shutdown in September 1998 and alleged salaries of some workmen were curtailed. Counsel for the union Gayatri Singh submitted that no prior intimation of the lockout was given by the management, which then promised that workers would continue to be paid wages, and production would shortly resume. Member of Industrial Court T M Mantri in his order directed the company to lift the notices of lock-up and provide work to the workmen concerned. In case the company does not provide work, it should pay a monthly salary to them as it used to pay earlier. New tendersfor debris transportation contract

The Bombay High Court today directed the BMC to invite fresh tenders in three wards -- A, C and E -- for awarding contracts for transportation of solid waste and debris from the wards to the dumping grounds.

The order was passed by Acting Chief Justice Ashok Agarwal and Justice Ajit Shah on a petition filed by Sayed Maqsood Mulani, convenor of the Municipal Corporation Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sangarsh Samiti.