The govt plans to raze the hostel building and construct more towers in the same premises.
Mumbai : The State government has a plan to demolish the Manora MLA hostel building and construct four new towers on the open space in the same compound where the hostel is situated. The idea behind is to accommodate all the legislatures in the same compound to make them functioning smoothly.
The Manora Hostel was constructed in the 1980s and due to poor construction (as claimed by PWD) some parts of the plaster has fallen down. There are several complaints about the poor quality of construction at Manora and of chunks of plaster falling. The PWD has put up props and a structural audit has been ordered.
Maharashtra has 180 MLCs and 288 MLAs. The Chief Minister, ministers, ministers of state and presiding officers of the legislature have their own bungalows. Once the new project is completed, all MLAs could get two rooms each.
According to the sources from Mantralaya, the Manora Hostel has four towers of fourteen storeys. These towers are in poor condition. The Public Works Department (PWD) will construct four new towers on the same plot adjacent to these towers. Once new towers are constructed the old ones would be demolished and reconstructed on the same plot.
“After the reconstruction, we will be in a more comfortable position and there could be some surplus flats. FSI calculations and costs are yet to be worked out,” said an official from Mantralaya.
According to rough estimate each legislator will get two flats of 475 sq ft, once the construction is completed. There will be about 700 flats in new complex. “The idea behind it to make all the legislatives to live in a same complex,” the officer informed.
As all legislators will be in the same premises, the other hostels which will be vacated; government offices can be shifted to there.
There are three more hostels for the legislators. One is opposite to Akashwani, the oldest one is Majestic at Colaba (opposite Regal cinema) and the third one is near the headquarters of director-general of police.
There are 181 rooms in Akashwani MLA Hostel, 98 in Majestic MLA House, 29 rooms at an old MLA Hostel.
Pandurang Mhaske
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Underground parking at Mantralaya soon
Mumbai : The State government is planning to construct an underground parking space for the vehicles of ministers and bureaucrats in the Mantralaya premises. The Public Works Department (PWD) has prepared a proposal which will soon be sent to the state cabinet for final approval.
A major blaze had engulfed Mantralaya building in the year 2012. Due to haphazard parking in the Mantralaya compound, Fire Brigade had faced a lot of problems while carrying out rescue operation. Inadequate parking blocked passageways due to which fire tenders could not reach at the spot in time.
The repairing and renovation work of the Mantralaya building is going on after the fire incident. But fire brigade has issued a reverse remark on the work citing there is no adequate parking due to which the civic body also denied the completion certificate and occupation certificate to the building.
Many offices of the State government had been devastated by the fire and repair and renovation work of these offices is almost complete. Now, the PWD is thinking about parking and there is only way to go underground for parking.
“The PWD had a plan to construct a two-storey underground car park below the Mantralaya garden. Cost of the project is estimated to be about Rs 55 crore. The proposal will be sent to the cabinet to get approval in next two weeks,” said an official from the PWD. “The parking lot will have two layers and will accommodate about 150 small cars. Further procedure will begin soon after getting the nod from the cabinet. It will take another two years to complete this project,” the official said.
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