BMC likely to raze Amitabh Bachchan’s compound wall in Mumbai

Following this, the civic body may soon turn towards the Bachchan bungalow’s boundary wall, which also needs to be demolished for widening the adjoining Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg.

A portion of a wall belonging to a bungalow neighbouring actor Amitabh Bachchan’s residence, Prateeksha, in Juhu, was taken down by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday as part of its road-widening plan.

Part of the wall taken down by BMC officials near Amitabh Bachchan’s house in Juhu. (Shashi S Kashyap/ HT)

Following this, the civic body may soon turn towards the Bachchan bungalow’s boundary wall, which also needs to be demolished for widening the adjoining Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg. The road connects Chandan Cinema area to Link Road. According to the civic body’s plan, the 350-m road is being widened to 60 feet, from 45 feet. The entire road has been widened, except for the stretches in front of these two properties. With the acquisition of private properties for building civic amenities, the BMC has to give the property owners additional construction rights.

Bachchan’s neighbouring property belongs to businessman KV Satyamurthy and is spread across 420 square metres, of which the BMC has earmarked 115.42 square metres for acquisition to widen the road.

Satyamurthy said, “The BMC is behaving in a highly discriminatory manner. They still have not demolished the wall portion of Prateeksha when they could have all this while. By demolishing my wall, they want to pressurise Mr Bachchan to give up his land. Also, there is no need at all to widen this road as we had submitted measurements to the BMC, which shows the road is already 60-feet wide.” HT sent a text message to Bachchan’s spokesperson, who had not responded till the time of going to press.

For Bachchan’s bungalow, 8-9 feet of land from the boundary wall is set to be acquired for road widening. Following notices to both property owners, Satyamurthy had moved court, refusing to give up a portion of his land, while Bachchan did not reply. After the stay on acquisition of land was lifted by the court, the BMC demolished the wall portion of Satyamurthy’s property on Thursday. A senior civic official said, “Satyamurthy has already used up additional construction rights by constructing the building beyond FSI permits. This is why he will get no benefit from the acquisition and will have to give up his land. Also, we are going to acquire a portion of Bachchan’s bungalow and this will happen soon.”