BMC back to seeking land for Hill Road widening

Proposal withdrawn in 2007 revived, officers informed

The proposal used to be withdrawn in 2007 following opposition from Bandra citizens, but BMC now sees no opposite direction the busy street can be unclogged

The spectre of shedding their land in Hill Road widening has returned to haunt St Andrew’s, St Peter’s churches as also the Tata Agiary.

The proposal to take land away from the 3 shrines used to be withdrawn once up to now following force from the communities, but it kind of feels the BMC has failed to seek out another way to unclog Hill Road in Bandra.

Officials of St Andrew’s, St Peter’s and the Tata Agiary had been informed orally that they must give up their setback land for the street widening. Notices have also been issued to licenced hawkers lining the street from Bandra railway station to Mehboob studio.

Setback is the minimum open space around a construction. The space is obligatory under municipal regulations to stay the construction fairly away from the street line and it may be bought by the company in public pastime.

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BMC resources said that the compound wall of the Bandra police station might also have to be introduced down to increase the street’s width from the present 90 ft to 120 ft. Seventeen business buildings too would have to be demolished – partly or totally – for the widening project. Of those, 8 are positioned reverse Nature’s Basket store. Four business institutions close to Rizvi Chambers and 5 close to Tea Villa Cafe also are at the demolition list.

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Mani Patel, a community activist and trustee of H West Citizens’ Trust, and previous member of the Hill Road Citizens Monitoring Committee, said the BMC’s H West assistant commissioner, Sharad Ughade, had visited the agiary. “There’s no letter or notice issued to the agiary. Ughade verbally communicated that the BMC sought after to reclaim our land. He in conjunction with another BMC official inspected the premises, we pointed out that as quickly because the agiary is built, the land is consecrated,” Patel said.

Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, parish priest, St Peter’s Church, said he had also met with Ughade. “Apart from the portion of the graveyards, they would like the college playground as neatly. We have submitted our response in writing,” he said, including that Hill Road didn’t require widening. “If they take away the unlawful hawkers, the issue of congestion will probably be solved,” he said.

St Andrew’s Church (left) and the Bandra agiary