BJP leader Kirit Somaiya alleges TDR fraud; Mumbai civic body says no decision taken

According to the documents provided by Somaiya, an application made to the corporation on November 9 stated that an adjoining road admeasuring 1,364.58 square metres was already acquired by the civic body without payment of compensation to the land owners. Therefore, a payment of ₹74.07 crore is due toward the land owners

Alleging that a group of private builders are being fraudulently allotted transferable development rights (TDR) worth ₹74 crore as compensation for a public road at Andheri which connects Mahakali caves, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya on Friday accused the civic body of facilitating a floor space index (FSI) fraud.

As it is an existing public road, there is no question of granting it as compensation to current owners who recently purchased the adjoining land in 2016, said the former parliamentarian. (HT File)

Somaiya has claimed that this road was a private road until 1914, and was then handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India.

As it is an existing public road, there is no question of granting it as compensation to current owners who recently purchased the adjoining land in 2016, said the former parliamentarian.

“TDR cannot be granted to an existing road. It may be noted that in 1914, when the land was given to government, there was no concept of TDR. This area was not part of BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation). In the past 106 years, previous owners have never raised any objection or dispute about compensation. It was well settled,” Somaiya in a statement said on Friday.

However, Vinod Chithore, chief engineer, development plan department, BMC, said, “The private builders who are the new owners of this land, have applied to BMC for granting TDR. However, the corporation is still examining the case, and no decision has been taken yet on allotting them the TDR. We will verify if there is merit in the case first.”