The BMC's initiative to rehabilitate Project Affected Persons (PAPs) in Mulund and Kanjurmarg has sparked protests from local residents who oppose having over 10,000 individuals in their midst. In Mulund, activist Mayura Banawalikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a significant campaign to halt the project.
She informed FPJ on Thursday, "The BMC has awarded a contract to Pune East Realty to rehabilitate 7,439 PAPs in an open plot near Kelkar College. They will be housed in towers to be built on the plot. Such a massive project will strain the already weak infrastructure in Mulund suburb. The contract award by the erstwhile MVA government has been done in a controversial manner with heavy price padding. Citizens of Mulund are determined not to allow the mega project in their area."
Banawalikar recently led a citizens' delegation to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, urging the project's cancellation and demanding a high-level probe into the contract award.
In Kanjurmarg, members of the local ALM led by Snehal Basrur are protesting against a project to accommodate 4,000 PAPs in four towers. These PAPs are mostly individuals who will be displaced for the Mulund-Goregaon Link Road project. A delegation of local residents led by Ms. Basrur met Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and strongly objected to the project. However, BMC officials stated that residents should have submitted objections during the finalisation of the Development Plan 2034. The BMC has already issued the work order, and work has commenced on the concerned plot, presenting residents with a fait accompli. They fear that the project will strain the existing infrastructure in the suburb.
The project includes two 23-storey buildings with seven wings. There is also a provision for a municipal market to resettle shopkeepers affected by the Mulund-Goregaon Link Road project and a one-storey community hall. Residents are advocating for the development of a playground in the plot since the suburb lacks this amenity.
