BMC issues notices for mill lands
The Mumbai municipality (BMC) has served stop work notices to 31 mill properties because the mills have not yet handed over the share of mill land that they owe the state.
The land rules say that mills need to give a third of the vacant land in each plot to the BMC to develop public grounds and one third to the state housing board MHADA to build low cost housing.
A formula cleared by the supreme court a year ago, but so far BMC received 3.85 hectares against 13.62 hectares while MHADA received 2.75 hectares against 7.35 hectares it was supposed to receive.
“We have issued notices to the mills, first they should hand over the land they owe the state, then they can resume construction,” said Jairaj Phatak, BMC Commissioner. Mill owners who owe land to the state include Bombay Dyeing, Mumbai Mills, DLF, Swan Mills, India United and Victoria Mills.
Wadia group
Mill owners refused to speak on camera but they say the state is responsible for the delays because it hasn’t earmarked which portion of the land they should hand over.
The biggest, the Wadia group says it does not owe any land to the state because it is modernising its mill and is not selling it. “The stop work does not apply to Bombay Dyeing since we are a modernizing mill and not a closed mill,” Bombay Dyeing said.
Mill owners were allowed to redevelop their properties to build malls, high-rises and hotels on the condition that they would give a share of their land to the state, but clearly that is not going to come without a fight.
