Residents decry bid to exploit 28-acre plot at Bandra Reclamation

The hopes of Bandra Reclamation residents for a park have been dashed by a tender for the development of a commercial and residential space on the land. The tender lacks details, but includes the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle to create a master plan, which will include a 50,000 sq ft corporate office for the MSRDC. The completion date is projected to be 10 years from when the plot is handed over on a 60-year lease. Environmental clearances state that no commercial or residential activity should be allowed on the reclaimed land.

MUMBAI: The hopes of the residents of Bandra Reclamation have been dashed by a tender. Published on January 10 by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the tender raised the curtain on a plan to develop a 28-acre parcel of land at the reclamation into a commercial and residential space. A park is what the residents had been promised.

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The tender has sparse details. The 28-acre land parcel is divided into Phase 1, on which currently sits the MSRDC office, and Phase 2 occupied currently by the J Kumar casting yard. It asks for the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle, which will prepare a master plan for the area. But what this master plan includes is absent, except for the inclusion of a 50,000 square-feet corporate office to be handed over to MSRDC. The projected completion date is ten years from the date the entire plot is handed over on a 60-year lease, with a provision to extend it by 30 years.

“Mumbai has more than enough residential and commercial development,” said Vidya Vaidya, chairperson of the Bandra Reclamation Area Volunteers’ Organization (BRAVO). “What we need is open spaces, and we’ve been waiting 20 years for them.” BRAVO was formed in 2004 and has been instrumental in the shaping of the Reclamation promenade, a stretch with a splendid sea view, greenery and ample space to relax and walk.

Vaidya explains that the land was part of the area reclaimed for the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, and points to the environmental clearances given by the environment ministry, which explicitly disallow the reclaimed land to be used for commercial or residential purposes.

“No commercial or residential activity/development would be allowed on the seaward side of the road. On the landward side (within 109 meters) between existing habitations/establishments and the road, no commercial activity except that relating to collection of toll for the users of the road would be permitted,” says the clearance given on January 7, 1999.

An updated clearance, dated April 26, 2000, states the land reclaimed should not exceed 27 hectares (66 acres) and adds that it should be monitored closely to prevent violation of the provisions of the CRZ Notification, 1991, and its subsequent amendments. “No portion of the reclaimed land should be used for residential/commercial purposes,” it reiterates. This objection is stated in BRAVO’s letter to several authorities, including the BMC, MMRDA, MSRDC, MLA Ashish Shelar, the urban development department and the chief minister.

Neela Shinde, another BRAVO trustee, remembers the fight to save the land from encroachments in the early 1990s. “There was a PIL to save the stretch from land-grabbing, as there was an influx of encroachments—godowns, slum pockets and temples,” she said. “The Bandra Reclamation Welfare Society and its president, the late Asha Rao, joined the petition as interveners. We saved the land together. So it really hurts that MSRDC wants to give it away for a purpose that won’t serve the public.”

Despite several attempts to reach them, officials from MSRDC did not respond.