Mumbai: 10 acres of Worli dairy land to be handed over to UDD

Mumbai: The state revenue and forest development departments on Tuesday directed the Director, Greater Mumbai Milk office, to handover 10 acres of Worli Dairy land to the Urban Development Department (UDD). The directive paves the way to develop an international standard tourism centre and aquarium.

While issuing the directives, the state also asserted that the UDD is expected to begin the work in three years after getting possession of the land. If it fails to do so, it will be taken back by the state.

In addition, if the UDD plans to carry out any development on ‘build, operate and transfer’ or ‘public private partnership’ models to fetch revenue, it will require the permission of the revenue and forest departments, the state order has stated. Besides, fixed revenue share will have to be paid to these departments, it said.

An official from the Worli Dairy department office said that of the total 14.55 acres of prime land, over 10 acres have to be handed over for the proposed tourism development project. The remaining land parcel will house staff quarters and the dairy department office.

The milk processing machinery will be shifted to Aarey Milk Colony. He said, “Earlier, the Worli Dairy processed around four lakh litres of milk per day, which came down to 30,000-40,000 litres. It gets milk from rural parts of Maharashtra, which it processes and packs for further distribution in Mumbai. Now, the processing unit will be shifted to the existing set up at Aarey.” The Aarey unit has a capacity of processing 5,000 litres of milk per day.

Nearly 300 people work at the department. With the proposed development and shifting of the dairy to Aarey, the possibility of reducing the staff in the future cannot be ruled out, said the official, adding that right now, however, there is no such move in the offing.

Total land parcel
14.55 acres

Land to be transferred to UDD
Over 10 acres

Worli Dairy processing unit to be completely shifted to Aarey Colony.

Some machinery will be shifted to Aarey, while the remaining will be scrapped

300 people work at Worli Dairy

It was established in 1961

Proposed project
International standard tourism centre and aquarium

Published on: Wednesday, May 25, 2022, 11:02 PM IST