MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority submitted a public notice this week requesting to remove 3846.08 square metres of land (just under an acre) from the ‘Natural Area’ designation in the Greater Mumbai Region’s Development Plan (2034).
They’ve made the decision to do so in order to make room for the construction of a warehouse to house Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines. The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation is right now using the land parcel in question, which is located in F/N Ward (Matunga east), as a temporary depot.
On the other hand, environmentalists have objected to the idea, claiming that the land parcel is covered by the Centre’s Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ), and that no such development may take place there. The aforementioned property was once part of a broader green belt in Mumbai’s 1991 Construction Plan, which has since been reduced and taken over for development on both sides.
A natural water body has been paved over to make way for the monorail depot, a truck terminal has been developed into multi-story buildings, and the size of the larger green belt area has also been reduced in the 20 years since the adjoining lands have all been developed, as a comparison of satellite images between 2013 and 2022 shows.
Zoru Bhatena, Environmentalist, pointed out in a letter to the deputy director of town planning on Wednesday, January 5, “the said plot abuts a saltwater creek and falls under CRZ-II on the landward side of the High Tide Line and cannot be developed for a government office nor a warehouse under the CRZ regulations.” He explained that because the entire area surrounding this ‘Natural Area’ has been quickly developed over the previous 20 years, it is all the more critical to maintain and preserve the few remaining open, natural spaces.
“A ‘Natural Area,’ according to the Development Control and Promotion Regulation 2034, is an environmentally sensitive zone where buildable construction is permitted for uses approved by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
The Government of Maharashtra is indirectly proposing a type of change in land reservation — under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act — that is not in accordance with the law, because the plot falls under CRZ on the landward side of the High Tide Line and is not developable for the purpose of either a warehouse or a government office,” said Bhatena, whose letter also states that “a government office/EVM & VVPAT machine warehouse can be built anywhere in Mumbai. There is no requirement that such a warehouse be constructed solely here.”