A day after a massive fire at the Kamala Mills compound claimed 14 lives and left 55 others injured, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday pulled down 300-odd illegal constructions at the affected compound and elsewhere in the metropolis, even as the Mumbai police issued “look-out” notices for four absconding owners and co-owners of the gutted pubs.

Under severe criticism from various quarters from their failure to check illegal commercial constructions at the Kamala Mills compounds, the anti-encroachment department officials of the BMC demolished scores of illegal constructions at the fire-hit mill compound and several commercial areas across the metropolis. The demolition drive will continue on Sunday.

Informed BMC sources said that the civic anti-encroachment department officials carried out demolitions at as many as 314 sites across the metropolis, including the Kamala Mills compound at lower Parel in south-central Mumbai.

Among other structures, the BMC officials — during their extensive drive — pulled down illegal extensions to commercial premises, decorative arches and metal grills inside or outside, double-triple or revolving doors, raised entrances/exits, ornamental fixtures and fittings, massive flower pots or plants, unauthorized temporary roofs, walls, partitions, any external/internal obstacles to free movements.

One of the reasons behind the BMC officials extending the drive beyond Kamala Mills compound was to cover similar illegal structures, particularly hotels and pubs across the city, which pose fire hazards as it happened in the case of three restaurants-cum-pubs —Mojo's Bistro lounge, 1Above casual dining restaurant and london Taxi Gastropub at Trade House building on Friday. “We want to ensure against any recurrence similar fire mishaps during the new-year eve festivities,” a senior BMC official said.

In a related development, the city police issued look out notices for four persons, including the owners of 1Above pub, Hitesh Sanghvi, his brother Jigar Sanghi and a partner Abhijit Mankar, and Yug Pathak, a co-owner of The Mojos Bistro, who is the son of a retired IPS officer.

Apprehending that they might be arrested, these four persons had gone missing within hours after the fire broke out at their establishments. “We have set up five teams to search for these four accused. We suspect that being moneyed ones, we suspect that these four persons might flee the country. That’s we have issued look out notices for them at Mumbai and various airports across the country,” a senior police officer said.

In addition, the BMC and police turned up heat on the owner of Kamala Mills, Ramesh Govani. Based on a complaint lodged  against him by the BMC under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP), the police have registered an FIR against Govani and launched a hunt for him and his associates, who have also absconded since Friday’s mishap.

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta had on Friday set the stage for impending demolitions of illegal structures across city, by appointing 25 teams to inspect hotels, bar-cum-pubs, restaurants, malls and other establishments in Kamala Mills compound and elsewhere in the city.

On Saturday morning, the BMC officials zeroed in on illegal structures and extensions at Kamala Mills compound and pulled down several of them down in n operation that was continuing till late in the evening.

Among other structures, the BMC officials demolished "illegal roofs" of two restaurants- 'Skyview Cafe and 'Social'  at the Kamala Mills and pulled down encroachments of 'Pranay',  'Fumes' and 'Sheesha Sky lounge' at Raghuvanshi Mills in the same locality. Also razed to ground with an excavator machine was 'Pravas', which looks like a bogie of a train,

Significantly enough, the BMC officials also pulled down the illegal structures built by “Smash”, a fashionable gaming and entertainment firm located at Kamala Mills compound which allegedly enjoys patronage of Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

The Kamala Mills and Raghuvanshmi Mills are among the closed textile mills, which had occupied a staggering 280 acres in south-central Mumbai, which were released for redevelopment in early 2000s. The redeveloped land have now been transformed into glittering corporate, media, communications, glamour and eating hubs. These areas also boast of tallest and most expensive residential and commercial towers in the entire metropolis.

Both the BMC and the Maharashtra Government have over the years turned a blind eye to the vast illegal constructions that have taken place in these areas. Given the rampant violations of building rules and safety norms, the inferno like the one swept through the three pubs-cum-restaurants that left 14 persons dead and 55 others injured was waiting to happen.

That the bureaucrat-politician nexus rules the roost is evident from the fact that the Shiv Sena-ruled BMC had done nothing to look into the complaints filed by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activist Mangesh Kashalkar, a social activist Ilyas Ejaz Khan and RTI activist Anil Galgali who had complained about the large-scale illegal structures that had come up over the recent years at lower Parel and Mahalaxmi in south Central Mumbai.