BSE gets BMC reprieve;to pull down illegal portions on its own

The iconic PJ Towers on the Dalal Street, which is home to the continent's oldest stock exchange BSE, has secured a breather from the BMC's demolition squad on assurance that it will remove the illegal extensions from the 29-storeyed tower in the heart of the megapolis on its own.
The move came after the municipal authorities, armed with a Supreme Court order to demolish the 'illegal structures' on the five floors of the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, had razed a cabin from the 28th floor of the tower yesterday.
The BMC conceded the demand as the recent SC order allowed BSE to approach the BMC for timing the demolition.

When contacted a BSE spokesman confirmed the development to PTI and said, "the exchange has given an undertaking to BMC that on its own it will remove all the structures/extensions the BMC wants us to remove."
When asked had BMC set a deadline to comply with the demand, the official said, they will do it at the earliest.
In a statement the 138-year-old exchange said, "the BSE would like to update its stakeholders that the partitions on the floors under questions are in existence since 1981 but have not been in use for long.

"The removal of partitions does not affect our members' offices or regular operations of the exchange in any manner. Our team has extended complete support to BMC authorities in removing the partitions at the assigned areas on the PJ Towers".

The statement emphasised that BSE has utmost respect for laws of the land.
The BSE building comprises phase I of PJ Towers and phase II of Rotunda Building. These buildings are built with a floor space index of 5.15 including a permissible FSI of 2.45 and additional FSI of 2.70.
The 28th floor earlier housed the stock exchanges membership department, while the 26th floor houses its governing body board room, while third floor has a servers hub and network equipment for leased lines. The 13th floor used to house the central computer and IT department that has now been shifted to 22nd and 23rd floors.