BMC panel clears Mulund dumping ground land for Dharavi redevelopment casting yard

MUMBAI: A proposal to lease around 15 acres of reclaimed land at the Mulund dumping ground to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) for five years faced was passed by the Shiv Sena-BJP-led improvement committee panel on Friday. The proposal faced stiff opposition from Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress members at the meeting who said that land once given would never come back to the civic body.

The land sanctioned is proposed to be used for setting up a casting yard, a precast element manufacturing facility and a ready-mix concrete (RMC) plant for the Dharavi redevelopment project. Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator and committee chairperson Sandhya Doshi said all members were given an opportunity to express their views before the proposal was sanctioned.

Opposing the proposal, UBT leader Vishaka Raut said, “Mulund people will never forgive the ruling party for passing for this proposal as the land could instead be used for a larger public amenity,” she said.


Another UBT corporator Sachin Padwal said the RMC plant should instead be located in Dharavi. “The travel from Dharavi to Mulund will be too far. History has shown that public land which has gone in the past has never come back,” he said. Padwal also alleged that several reservation changes had been made in the past six months.

“In six months, there have been 42 proposals only for reservation changes,” he said.

However BJP's Swapna Mhatre hit back saying that one of purposes of an improvement committee was to deliberate on reservation changes on the development plan.

Bandra West corporator Raja Rahebar Khan at the meeting recalled that how a space in Bandra West had earlier been provided for the Bandra Worli sea Link-related works, and subsequently was sold to Adani ” he said. Defending the proposal, Mulund corporator Prakash Gangadhare said the land was being provided for the benefit of the Dharavi redevelopment project.

“Please see the terms and conditions which clearly mentions that it will be given on lease,” he told the opposition party corporators.

BJP corporator Aneesh Makwaney said the opposition was attempting to stall a project aimed at improving living conditions in Dharavi.

"Dharavi people are living in poor conditions. Our government is trying to improve their living conditions and you are trying to halt development, which includes construction of a casting yard,” Makwaney said.

The proposal: 15 acre Mulund dump land lease for Dharavi redevelopment works.It proposes leasing 60,703 sq m of land to Navbharat Mega Developers Pvt Ltd, the company appointed by the state government to execute the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

About the proposal: The land forms part of the Mulund landfill where biomining is underway. While portions of the site have already been reclaimed, the proposed 15-acre parcel still contains an estimated 2.5-3 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, requiring removal, site remediation, soil stabilisation and levelling before it can be used.

Cost: Navbharat Mega Developers will undertake remediation of the site at an estimated cost of Rs 20.04 crore, which will be adjusted against the lease rental after verification by the Chief Engineer (Solid Waste Management). Following this adjustment, the civic body will receive a net rental of Rs 83.44 crore, while the total amount payable including 18% GST will be about Rs 100 crore.