BMC Dismantles Mumbai’s Habitat Studio After Comedian’s Controversy

On Monday, workers from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) went back to demolish part of the Habitat Studio in Mumbai. This venue is where stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra made some remarks about Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, which upset a lot of people.

The BMC said they were destroying parts of the studio because it was built without permission. This was the second day in a row that BMC officials visited the Habitat Studio in Khar to tear down an illegal part of the building.

Just a day after Kunal Kamra’s video, which showed him joking about Eknath Shinde, was shared online, a group of people from Shiv Sena attacked the studio. Because of the uproar, the BMC immediately took action and started demolishing the illegal sections of the studio.

BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani received a call from state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik, who wanted the studio demolished. Gagrani then told Assistant Commissioner Vinayak Vispute to check if there were any illegal parts in the structure.

The BMC team found that the studio owners had built a temporary shed on the terrace and were also using the basement for filming, even though it was only supposed to be used for storage. Vispute explained that they had to remove the illegal shed because the owners didn’t do it themselves.

“We told them to take it down, but since they didn’t, we had to do it,” he said. He added that notices are not usually sent to owners for temporary illegal additions.

After the events on Sunday, the Khar police deployed a special police force to keep an eye on the building. Rahool Kanal, who leads the Shiv Sena’s social media team and was part of the protest, called the studio completely illegal and said it didn’t have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department.

“When we went to protest on Sunday, I spoke to the studio’s owner, but he avoided my questions,” Kanal said. The owner of the studio, Balraj Ghai, didn’t answer calls from reporters, saying he was busy with officials.