Mumbai: SRA Official, Developers Booked For Illegal Transit Camp On BMC-Reserved Land In Worli

Mumbai: The Worli police have registered criminal cases against a senior Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) official and private developers for allegedly permitting and carrying out illegal construction of transit camp buildings on land reserved by the BMC for a sewage treatment facility.

An FIR has been lodged against DB Patil, executive engineer, SRA (G-South ward), and two unidentified persons under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for criminal conspiracy and cheating. The complaint was filed by Prachiti Meghraj Desai, chief engineer of BMC’s sewerage operations department. The land is at Jijamata Nagar, Worli, part of an SRA scheme handled by M/s Lokhandwala Infra Pvt Lt and Lokhandwala DB Realty LLP.

While part of the 68,970.5 sq mt plot is for slum rehab with 3,667 structures, a major portion is reserved by BMC for civic use, including sewage infrastructure. On April 11, 2025, Patil allegedly granted permission to build transit camp buildings 1 to 7 on the reserved portion without obtaining the mandatory NOC from the BMC. When the BMC officials noticed the ongoing work, they issued a stop-work notice. Initial checks showed that construction had already affected major underground sewer lines, raising fears of flooding in central and south Mumbai during monsoons and risks to critical city infrastructure.

The transit camps are intended to temporarily house residents displaced from several Worli redevelopment projects, including Jeevanjyot SRA Scheme, Shri Swami Vivekanand SRA Scheme, Mata Ramabai Nagar SRA Scheme, Veer Jijamata Nagar SRA Scheme, and related housing clusters. In an earlier related case, Worli police registered an offence on September 15, 2025, against the developer firms under Section 53(7) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, following a complaint by Patil himself.

An SRA inspection on March 20, 2025, revealed that construction of the transit camp had started without permission. Although layout approval was given on April 11, 2025, it came with conditions that were not met, so formal permission was not issued. Despite stop-work notices on March 21 and August 12, 2025, the developers allegedly continued the work, leading to police action.

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