State may give 195 acres in Madh to pvt parties, Dharavi residents

The state will consider a 195-acre land proposal for a corporate hospital, music academy, and housing for Dharavi residents on Oct 8 amid rising tensions.

Strap: The beneficiaries include a corporate house, a music composer, legislators, and Dharavi residents. The plan will be considered by the Cabinet on Oct 8

State may give 195 acres in Madh to pvt parties, Dharavi residents

The state government will soon consider a proposal to allot a 195-acre land parcel in Madh, in North Mumbai, to a corporate house, private individuals, legislators, and a section of residents to be resettled as part of the Dharavi redevelopment project. The proposal will be placed before the state Cabinet on October 8.

An elbow of land jutting into the Arabian Sea, Madh is a secluded neighbourhood graced with beaches on the west coast of Mumbai. Now a popular weekend getaway, it was once home to farmlands and fishing villages, some of which still remain. This quiet neighbourhood is dotted with small bungalows, many of them rented for film and serial shoots. Madh also houses an Indian Air Force base.

Being a coastal area, most of Madh is in a No-Development Zone, but the push to developing it has been growing stronger ever since the Mumbai Coastal Road was announced. Land prices here have soared and connectivity will improve manifold, transforming this sleepy suburban Eden forever.

Not surprisingly, everyone is eyeing a piece of the Madh pie. Sources in the state government say that if the proposal tabled before the Cabinet on October 8 goes through, a corporate house will be granted land for a charitable hospital and a music composer will be given land for a music academy. Some plots will also be granted to housing societies of legislators, who were earlier granted plots in Versova but could not develop them due to restrictions imposed by the Coastal Regulation Zone notification.

Early this year, the BMC permitted regulated development at Madh, including IT parks on the NDZ land. Sources say the structures mentioned in the proposal to be considered by the Cabinet will not violate these regulations as long as they follow the stipulated height restrictions.

A large portion of the Madh land parcel will also be set aside for affordable rental housing for Dharavi residents ineligible for free housing under the Dharavi redevelopment project. The rental housing scheme for Dharavi residents has also been granted land at Kanjurmarg, Mulund and Kurla. The state has cancelled rental housing projects at the erstwhile octroi nakas in Mulund and Dahisar, but it plans to allot the now-defunct Deonar dumping yard for this purpose. In addition, a week ago, the Centre had transferred 255 acres of salt pan land in Mumbai for the Dharavi redevelopment project.

At present, Madh can be accessed only via a two-lane road from Malad. Connectivity will improve greatly once the Mumbai Coastal Road is complete. There is also a plan to connect Madh with a 2.06-km, cable-stayed bridge from Versova, which will cost over ₹3,200 crore.

Sources say that the proposal seeking land for the charitable hospital and the music academy have been forwarded by the Suburban District Collector, but the proposal for Dharavi rental housing was prepared in Mantralaya. Sources in the bureaucracy say the proposal for land for MLAs housing societies should face no opposition as the MLAs cut across political parties.

This is ironic as the state has repeatedly turned down proposals for land in Madh, from government agencies such as the Coast Guard; Defence forces, for housing; and the state Home Department, for prisons.

Confirming the proposal for the 195-acre Madh land parcel, state revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil says, “Many MLAs had been granted plots at Versova but they can’t develop them as there are restrictions due to the CRZ notification. Former Speaker Dilip Walse Patil had made a request to give alternative plots and hence we will give land at Madh.”

However, opposition is already brewing. Malad (West) MLA Aslam Shaikh (Congress) says there is a dearth of open space in Mumbai. “We want areas like Madh to remain free of development. Once we come to power, we will get the rental housing scheme for Dharavi residents cancelled,” he said.