BMC to build sea-facing luxury flats in Colaba for senior officers

MUMBAI: The BMC is set to demolish the quarters of Class Four employees of the sewerage operations department at Colaba to build eight luxurious sea-facing flats for its additional and joint municipal commissioners.

The civic body needs accommodation for its senior officers, and zeroed in on the existing quarters for Class Four employees in the prime area of Colaba. The houses are in a dilapidated state and will be demolished to make way for a swanky building while the occupants will be housed elsewhere.

A senior BMC officer gave HT the lowdown on present BMC accommodation. “Our commissioner has a bungalow at Altamount Road,” he said. “We have two bungalows at Malabar Hill near the reservoir (earlier belonging to the hydraulic engineer) which are occupied by additional commissioners. At present, many ministers and a senior IAS officer are eyeing them.”

The officer said that an IAS officer, Pravin Darade, had earlier refused to vacate one of the two Malabar Hill bungalows. “The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government sanctioned the other bungalow to Aslam Shaikh, who was guardian minister for Mumbai city,” he said. “Now a retired IAS officer, who has an important post, wants it. Instead of getting entangled in all this, we decided to build luxury flats for our officers.”

The officer said that four flats would be for additional commissioners and four for joint commissioners and senior officers. “Each flat will be around 2,000 square feet with attached servant quarters and adequate car parks,” he said. “The project will cost us ₹60 crore. We will make the allotment in such a way that it is given only to officers in the employment of the BMC. Once the additional commissioners leave us, they will have to go back to state government accommodation in South Mumbai.”

The BMC also has a bungalow inside the Byculla zoo. However, when the Mumbai mayor’s bungalow was taken over for the Bal Thackeray memorial, the mayor had to be given a house inside the zoo, and hence once one house for the BMC’s senior officers was reduced.

Sources in the BMC said that the two bungalows in Hanging Garden, which are now occupied by additional commissioners, will also have to be demolished soon for the remodelling of the Hanging Garden reservoir.

At present, six IAS officers work in the BMC headed by the commissioner, four additional commissioners and one joint commissioner. The civic body has nearly 30 deputy commissioners and two to three joint commissioners.