Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the commissioner of the BMC to decide the issue raised in a petition regarding faulty realignment of development plan (DP) road between Lokhandwala Township Circle in Kandivali and Kandivali East. The stretch is a part of the road widening project between Magathane (Dahisar) and Goregaon, which was declared as a “vital infrastructure project” in August 2022.
The high court was hearing a petition by Shirish Shetty and five other Kandivali residents highlighting the faulty alignment of the road claiming that it was not in alignment with the development plan. The plea sought implementation of the DP Road and removal of encroachment from Singh Estate in Kandivali East to give effect to the development scheme. There are over 300 hutments, which are allegedly delaying the implementation of the road widening scheme.
Once implemented, this would widen the proposed DP road to 120ft, which in turn would help decongest the traffic, the plea claimed. Advocate Rishi Bhatt, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that, on June 12, 2023, a meeting was held by the Deputy Chief Minister along with MLAs and other officials in which details were sought regarding the feasibility of construction of Flyover so that the slum structures in Singh Estate can be saved.
After a detailed survey, the BMC decided on September 4, 2023, that if the bridge is constructed, the project value may be escalated to Rs950 crore. Also, the slum dwellers would still have to be removed. Despite this, the Chief Minister issued a direction on March 14 this year to realign the complete DP Road.
Bhatt submitted the BMC report of September last year to the court and asked whether the CM was empowered to pass such a directive. A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar, however, said that only an expert can give an opinion on the report. “How can we say anything about this report whether it is correct or not? We can ask the commissioner to look into it,” the chief justice said.
The bench then directed the petitioner to make a representation to the BMC commissioner in 10 days. Once such a representation is made, the BMC commissioner has been asked to call for the necessary documents and reports from his subordinate officers and take an informed decision on it within four weeks and pass a “reasoned order”.
Stretched over 2,400 meters of road, the BMC has constructed 2,065 meters. Of the balance, 335 meters, 250 meters of land is encroached by the slum dwellers who are non-cooperative whereas the Balance 85-meter road has to be developed by the MHADA, which is already been effected.
