After Andheri, ban on vertical construction to be lifted in Juhu, Dahisar?

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on July 12, sent a letter to the union civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, to shift the Mumbai airport’s high-frequency communication stations in Juhu and Dahisar to some other place, preferably Gorai, to facilitate the construction of residential high rises and the redevelopment of old buildings, which is stuck because of height restrictions.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has laid down strict restrictions on the heights of buildings in areas falling in the funnel zone (an area aligned with the runways along the specific paths followed by flights while landing and taking off) to ensure that there are no obstacles in the flight paths.

The central government had earlier given its approval for shifting the high-frequency receiving station from Dahisar and transferring 40 acres of the 58-acre land owned by AAI to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of a metro car shed in lieu of exchange of a 40-acre state-owned plot in Gorai. The then municipal commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, had successfully pursued this matter. But, due to changes introduced later in the metro project, the MMRDA no longer needed the Dahisar plot for a car shed.

So, the BMC requested that the state urban development department allow it to develop a park on the plot. It also dashed a missive to the AAI on December 22, 2022, requesting it to hand over the land after dismantling the transmission tower.

In response, the AAI wrote back on April 18, 2023, that the transfer of the said land to MMRDA was approved by the union cabinet for the specific purpose of metro car shed only. So, any change in the purpose would require fresh approval from the union cabinet. Hence, it requested BMC to take the matter up with the union civil aviation ministry.

Thereafter, the BMC, on May 22, 2023, again asked the state to look into the matter, and CM Shinde made a request to union minister Naidu to give the aviation ministry’s approval to the swapping of AAI land in Dahisar East with the BMC land in Gorai, for the purpose of development of “the biggest park in suburbs” by BMC, in place of a metro car shed by MMRDA. The ministry was also assured that all other conditions of transfer will remain unaltered.

Now, in his latest letter to the ministry, Shinde has highlighted the restrictions on the heights of buildings in the surrounding areas of the transmission stations in Juhu and Dahisar. The letter pointed out that, for a city grappling with limited land area amid a surging population and increasing demands for infrastructure, housing, and commercial spaces, height restrictions on buildings severely restrict development of scarce lands to fullest potential and deters development.

“It is thus desirable that transmission towers along with high frequency communication systems may be considered for relocation if such relocation does not interfere with this system’s essential operation. Redevelopment schemes for slums as well as old, dilapidated buildings are becoming unviable due to the height restrictions in the surrounding area resulting in stoppage of development activities, thereby depriving residents of safe shelters to live in,” the letter read.

Residents of the areas, too, have been putting pressure on the state government to get the ‘funnel zone’ cover lifted.

Earlier, the state had granted in-principle approval for the transfer of land from the AAI to BMC at DN Nagar and from BMC to AAI in Gorai, as high-frequency transmitter perimeter has constrained the redevelopment of old residential buildings.

Subsequently, a committee headed by Air Chief Marshal Fali Major was appointed to find a solution. The former chief of the air staff of the Indian Air Force travelled across the country before giving his recommendations for such old buildings. It was then decided that AAI would surrender its land to BMC; and the BMC would, in exchange, provide equal space to AAI in Gorai to shift its transmission towers, paving the way for lifting of the height restriction to redevelop old buildings in DN Nagar in Andheri.