HC paves the way for widening Hill Road
The Bombay high court (HC) recently paved the way for the widening of Hill Road in Bandra by allowing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take forcible possession of part a of a structure, Khoja Florist, which has been obstructing the project.
A division bench of justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice GS Patel on October 9 gave the owners of Khoja Florist time to hand over the required part of the property by November 30, failing which the civic body can take forcible possession of the same.
The bench also directed the BMC to pay the property owners compensation according to the prevailing policy. Akbarali Dandawala, the late owner of Khoja Florist, had approached the HC last year, challenging a June 2018 order issued by BMC, asking him to hand over a portion of the property for the widening of Hill Road. Acting on his petition, another bench of the Bombay HC had restrained the civic body from taking any further action.
The BMC recently requested the bench to take up the petition for hearing in view of the urgency of widening the road. The project was necessary to ease the vehicular movement and avoid traffic congestion at the junction, the civic body told the HC.
The BMC said it had removed other major bottlenecks along the road by extending the benefit of its compensation policy to the persons whose properties or parts of it were required to be removed for the project. BMC will also take possession of another structure, Patel stores.
Devendrakumar Jain, assistant municipal commissioner of H west ward (Bandra, Khar), said, “It was a major hindrance to our widening project that has got cleared now. This will give a major relief to motorists plying on Hill Road during peak hours.”
Anil Joseph, chairman of Perry Road Residents Association, said, “We have been following up with this issue since 2006. The move will give help ease congestion.”
(With inputs from Sagar Pillai)