Mumbai Metro: Parties to be Rehabilitated in the Same Area

The developed area in and around Vidhan Bhavan or Mantralaya station of the upcoming underground Metro Rail Line 3 (Cuffe Parade to Seepz Andheri via Bandra and airport) will house the offices of political parties and government offices, besides several commercial and corporate facilities.

The state government put up a revised GR asking the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) to compensate parties and offices with over 1.14 lakh sq ft of area at the same location against their existing land and properties before their acquisition for the project.

Around seven political parties and 29 government offices had sprawling premises on the land where Vidhan Bhavan or Mantralaya station of the Metro 3 is coming up. An FSI of 4 will likely be used for station area development as the state has already given similar permission to Pune Metro. The higher FSI will create a huge space in and around the station. Around 1,135,00 sq ft of land acquired by MMRCL comes to around INR 427 crore.

Before actually using the land pieces for development activities, MMRCL will be responsible for ensuring requisite permissions from BMC and the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) as the area falls within the municipal and CRZ limits, respectively.

MMRCL must protect the areas from encroachment and seek related permissions from the planning authorities, such as MMRDA and the heritage conservation committee. A senior government official said under the detailed project report that the area of political parties and government offices acquired for the Metro project had been shown as the source of INR 1,000 crore revenue for the government.