Malabar Hill Citizens Association files PIL

Part 2: Covered write up regarding segment of road from Afghan Consulate till Teen Batti junction for proposed road widening including provision for about 175 car parkings and a public park on the stretch of land facing seaside having an area of about 5 acres with scenic view of Marine Drive and far away Colaba and Cuff Parade, it could be a landmark park in the entire neighbourhood. This area is practically unused as the main gate of Raj Bhavan and all the offices including residence for Governor, the main Guest House and the Staff quarters etc. are located on the other end near Banganga with land area of over 45 acres.

Both these articles were authored by well-known Architect and Consulting Engineer, Shri Jashwant Mehta, himself also resident of Malabar Hill. It contained detailed drawings with technical analysis. The addition in car parking could be a great boon for the residents & would also reduce congestion on the road. Both the above-mentioned articles received very good response from local residents.

Walkeshwar Road is a stretch of about 2 kms, starting from Tambe Chowk (Bandstand) to Banganga Road in Malabar Hill. The Road is important but has remained utterly neglected. It is an arterial road of Malabar Hill area serving residents of Walkeshwar Road, Ridge Road, Nepean Sea Road, Doongershi Road, Manav Mandir Road, Mt Pleasant Road and also surroundings of Banganga area. It is also a main connecting road leading to Raj Bhavan, Hanging Garden, Kamla Nehru Park, State Guest House, Hyderabad Estate, Cabinet Minister’s as also High Court Judges residences besides Elizabeth Hospital, prominent Jain Temple and the Holy Banganga, which is a World Heritage Site. The Road also witnesses frequent VIP movement due to Raj Bhavan & all ministers including CM’s residence, High Court Judges etc.

Considering all these aspects the 1967 Development Plan (DP) as well as subsequent DPs including 2034 DP (Published in 2018) had prescribed its road width to 27.45 mts. The enormous increase in traffic witnessed during last 6 decades the widening is most essential but has surprisingly remained neglected all through. Even the buildings which have come up during this period and where 10 meters and more setbacks are provided, the Corporation has not bothered to take possession of these setbacks. Presently even the space for footpath on most of length of the road is either non-existent or merely a metre wide. It may be mentioned that present width of Walkeshwar road is around 13.5 to 16 mts only which is too narrow and widening is absolutely necessary. The road has several bus routes & several buildings are undergoing redevelopment with much higher FSI ranging from 4.05 to 5.4 as permitted under DCPR 2034 as compared to 1.33 to 2.0 as per earlier D.C. Regulations of 1967 & 1991 and traffic which has already increased substantially and is likely to increase several folds in times to come. It may be mentioned that presently the width of Walkeshwar Road varies from 14 to 17 meters and widening is the dire need.

While studying DP’s in detail Shri Jashwant Mehta was surprised to notice that the width of Walkeshwar Road which was proposed 27.45 mts as per all DPs has been reduced to mere 17 mts in width from Raj Bhavan Gate near Afghan Consulate to Teen Batti junction. The most disturbing part was that this reduction in prescribed width seemed to have been been done to serve the vested interests of owner of Plot no.156 near Teen Batti junction (with the support and backing of a prominent developer) on sea front side & plans having been approved for 3 basements having total built up area of 17000 Sq. ft + Stilt+ 15 Upper floors having nearly 60000 sq. ft built up area on this site. This is indeed quite shocking because this crucial junction is already crowded and reduction of 10 mts in prescribed road width near Teen Batti junction with massive new structures coming up in the area will worsen traffic scenario and make life miserable and frustrating for local residents.

Having learnt this around October/November 2024 some like-minded local residents decided to take up the issue seriously and formed “Malabar Hill Citizens Association” for co-ordinated joint action.  The Association also decided to pursue the 2 proposals as contemplated in both articles of Shri Jashwant Mehta.

The Association has been putting lot of  had to put strenuous efforts for restoring road width as prescribed in all  earlier DP’s including 2034 & number of letters were sent to the Municipal Commissioner asking for appointment.  It is was most unfortunate that the Commissioner never responded nor did he give an appointment (till his retirement on 31st March 2026 for the reasons best known to him).  Representation by the Association was also made to the Chief Minister as well as the Hon. Governor and also to Shri Mangal Prabhat Lodha who has been elected from Malabar Hill Assembly Constituency for a record consecutive 7 times & who is also Maharashtra’s Cabinet Minister for several years & then Guardian minister of Mumbai.

During the meeting with Shri Lodhaji, it was shocking to learn that the entire process of reducing the prescribed width from 27.5 to 17 mts on such a crucial segment near Teen Batti Junction was carried out even without his knowledge and also none of the erstwhile Municipal Councillors had any knowledge in this regard. While Shri Lodha assured full cooperation and also sent a letter to the Municipal Commissioner for seeking appointment with the members of the Association. However, there was no response from the Commissioner. A meeting was arranged in Shri Lodha’s Cahmber wherein Urban Development (UD) Secretary Shri Aseemkumar Gupta was present and he clarified that the reduction in prescribed width was carried out by the Municipal Corporation under Resolution No.1314 dated 16.01.2023 and the UD was not kept in the loop by the Corporation.

While the Commissioner did not respond for an appointment the Hon’ble Governor Shri Radhakrishnan called the representatives of the Association and in the meeting which took place on 3rd January, 2025 the Governor being  fully knowledgeable and aware of the traffic congestion on this segment of the road was fully in agreement for widening of road and in fact mentioned that the Municipal Corporation ought to come forward and initiate the process for which he was would be willing to cooperate and put forward the same to the relevant authorities.

After vigorous followup under RTI the Association could manage to procure relevant papers and it was shocking to learn how BMC had twisted & manipulated the process of passing impugned Resolution for the reduction of road width. It was very apparent that the entire exercise was carried out to suit vested interest of the owner of Plot No. C.S.156 while as per the prescribed width nearly 70% of this plot was coming under setback, with the reduction in prescribed width reduced this setback from 14 mts to mere 3 mts. The ownership of the plot had changed hands in January 2022 and the entire operation was initiated soon thereafter. 

As per the minutes of the meeting (obtained under RTI) a Traffic Consultant was to be appointed by the BMC for redesigning the Teen Batti Junction so as to find solution to decongest the traffic at this junction & for this purpose the BMC was to invite tender for suitable Traffic Consultant for this job.  It was indeed most surprising that instead of appointing suitable Traffic Consultant the Developer himself appointed a Traffic Consultant & within a fortnight of the appointed by the developer, instead of presenting proposal for redesigning of the Teen Batti Junction submitted a report in August 2022 suggesting reducing the prescribed width of the road from 27.45 to 17 mts for a segment of the road from Afghan Consulate to Teen Batti Junction on the pretext that widening beyond 17 mts is not possible considering the stability of soil due to hilly terrain & geological consideration. The report did not mention any data as regards the lack of footpaths on either side of road nor any mention of several bus routes plying or any statistics of ever-increasing two-wheeler traffic. The projections for four-wheeler traffic was also surprisingly for the year 2027 i.e. 5 years projection. Based on the weird findings the conclusions were drawn to justify reduction in prescribed road width to 17 mts.  It is a normal practice for any such report to have projections for future 15-20 years period.