BMC files caveat for DP and coastal road

MUMBAI: Taking a precautionary measure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has filed a caveat for the coastal road and Development Plan (DP) 2034 in the

MUMBAI: Taking a precautionary measure, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has filed a caveat for the coastal road and Development Plan (DP) 2034 in the Bombay high court (HC).

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The move can be seen as the civic body’s pre-emptive step fearing a backlash from citizens. A caveat can be described as a document submitted to the court to give the authorities a hearing before taking any action. Many organisations such as the Hamara Shehar Mumbai Abhiyaan (consisting of 50 institutions), Apna Mumbai Abhiyaan (a conglomeration of more than 15 citizen groups) and Watchdog Foundation have held protest march, formed human chains and met the civic officials to oppose the coastal road and DP.

While the DP is the recently-released blueprint of the city’s infrastructure development for the next 20 years, the coastal road is a 33-km freeway connecting the western suburbs to South Mumbai. While the groups have argued that the DP does not look at the demands raised by the poor, citizens fear severe environmental hazards with the implementation of the coastal road project.

A senior civic official said, “After the desilting and the roads scam where contractors created trouble for the BMC by approaching the court, we are being very careful. We do not want any unnecessary steps taken by citizen groups to stall the plan or the coastal road project.”

Citizens look at the move as a way of restricting their democratic rights to oppose the civic body’s plans for the city. Sitaram Shelar, from Hamara Shehar Mumbai Abhiyaan said, “The state must look at facilitating democracy and not restricting it by filing a caveat. This is a move which will restrict citizens from taking the legal step.”