Video of BMC demolition drive in Santacruz viral as ‘bulldozer Raj’ in Uttar Pradesh

by Vansh Shah

A video has been making rounds on social media where an aged man can be seen lying down in front of a bulldozer. He then gets up and can be seen engaged in a heated argument with a woman. The man holds up a bunch of papers and repeatedly says, “There is a court order”.

AIMIM leader Mohammed Naseeruddin, who is a corporator from Nanal Nagar (Division No.69) & member of the standing committee, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, shared this video with a caption in Hindi that said, ‘Officers in Uttar Pradesh wear fancy dresses and don’t obey court orders. In the video, the man is saying that he has a court order, but this cheeky officer is saying that he does not obey the court order. The rule of bulldozers is going on; rules and regulations are being flouted in UP.’ The tweet has over one lakh views at the moment.

Another Twitter user named Shailesh Verma shared the video with the exact caption. His tweet has over 3 lakh views. (Archive)

Many Twitter and Facebook users also shared the video, claiming it was from Uttar Pradesh.

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Fact Check

By breaking down the video into key-frames and reverse-searching one of them, Alt New came across a Tweet by Shuja, a social activist, pointing out that the officer was disobeying a court order. To this, the official account of Ward-HW of Bruhanmumbai Municipal Corporation replied saying that six illegal stalls made up of Iron and tin sheets were found on K D Marg and 2nd Gaothan Lane Jn., Near Santacruz Station, Santacruz West on the night of March 20. These were demolished on March 21. There was “no restraining legal orders from Hon’ble Court on those 6 illegal stalls.”

We also noted that newspaper The Siasat Daily published a report on this incident with the headline, “I have court papers’: Muslim man begs BMC official to stop demolition”. In the report, he is identified as Haji Rafat Hussain.

Twitter Blue subscriber Sadaf Afreen also posted this alongside another video of the incident where one can listen to the old man yelling “yeh full dadagiri chal rahi hai BMC waalon ki”, meaning that the BMC, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and its officers are allegedly intimidating the stall owners. To which, the official handle of BMC replied explaining the case:

Therefore, it is clear that the incident is not from Uttar Pradesh, but from Santacruz West, Mumbai. A demolition drive was underken for six illegal stalls made of tin sheets kept at K D Marg and 2nd Gaothan Lane Junction, Near Santacruz Station, Santacruz (west) on March 20, 2023. The authorities clarified that the stall owners did not have any legal clearance for the stalls.

Vansh Shah is an intern at Alt News.

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