MUMBAI, Oct. 31 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday razed 42 slum structures along SVP Nagar Road in Andheri west to clear land for a 100-metre connector bridge, a crucial link in the proposed Versova-Bhayander Coastal Road and Versova-Bandra Sea Link. The bridge is expected to connect Yari Road to Lokhandwala, and ease traffic congestion and reduce travel time from 30 minutes to just 10. An official from the BMC's bridges department said the demolition took place on government-owned Coastal Regulation Zone land. "When we conducted the demolition on this land in 2019, the encroachments were in the mangrove buffer zone. They don't have proof of existence for last 30 years," the official said. The affected hutment dwellers, who are not being rehabilitated, allege that the civic administration invoked the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code instead of the Slum Rehabilitation Act, 1995, to avoid providing alternative housing. A notice from the collector on September 26 described their homes as 'unauthorised structures'. Shubham Kothari, a member of the Jan Hakk Sangarsh Samiti, said, "Under the Maharashtra Slum Act 1971, the slum dwellers must be given a chance to prove their eligibility for rehabilitation, which was not given."...