Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project: There were no illegalities as far as permissions are concerned, says BMC chief

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly on August 24, Fadnavis said the state will conduct an inquiry into allegations that the development plans of the project were altered for profitability.

Chahal said, “It is not directly related to the BMC. There are no illegalities in the project as far as permissions from the BMC are concerned, or the Development Plan 1991 and 2034. The project has all requisite construction permissions from the BMC,” Chahal said.

In conversation with The Indian Express on Tuesday night, Chahal said, “With respect to technicality, there are no illegalities in the project as far as the BMC is concerned. All plans for the project were approved as they conformed with the Development Control Regulations 1991 and Development Control and Promotion Regulations 2034.”

“However, it would not be appropriate for me as municipal commissioner to allow construction for a project in Mumbai which recently came up in the legislative assembly and was said to have irregularities. The deputy chief minister has announced that there will be an inquiry into the project and until that is done, it won’t be correct to allow the construction to go on,” the municipal commissioner added.

The BMC’s building proposals department on Saturday issued a ‘stop work’ notice to the project stating that it was done in the wake of the announcement in the Assembly. “As directives have been issued to conduct a thorough investigation into the project, construction work needs to be stopped immediately as a temporary measure,” the notice stated. The notice was issued under section 354A of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, which vests the municipal commissioner with the power to stop any construction that is carried out unlawfully.

Chahal said, “I will write to the deputy chief minister to find out why (he announced an inquiry into the project). The government has announced an inquiry into development works carried out over the past one-and-a-half to two years. This is a project that was given concessions by the state government and was approved by it under section 33(9) of the DCPR 2034 (cluster redevelopment). Some portion of the BMC-owned land was also handed over by the state government to the developer (SBUT) to bring this project to fruition.”

He said the deputy CM spoke about three matters concerning the Mumbai civic body — deferring property tax collection for one year, decisions regarding the SBUT and the installation of 6,000 security cameras in Mumbai. “I signed all three orders before leaving Mumbai for my official (overseas) tour,” Chahal said.

During his address in the Assembly, Fadnavis said, “In the recent times, SBUT’s development plans were completely changed and unfortunately, while changing these plans some existing roads were closed down for traffic and their width was reduced. The additional space was used as FSI and handed over to the builder. I want to tell the SBUT that while it has the wholehearted support of the government, it ventured into profiteering. In this context, the change in development plans is not appropriate. We will conduct a full inquiry to find out who was responsible, who benefited and who profited from changing the development plan for the project. I have sought directives to be issued to the municipal commissioner shortly.”

A senior political analyst and constitution expert, who did not wish to be named, said, “The municipal commissioner has discretionary powers to send a notice to any project if he suspects irregularities. In this case, prima facie, a statement by the Deputy Chief Minister is a directive to the municipal commissioner, even though it is not a direct order.”

According to a senior official, the state government received complaints from residents and beneficiaries of the project, prompting Fadnavis’s statement in the legislature. Work on the project started in 2016 and an international contractor was appointed for the construction of one phase of it. “This previous contractor completed a high-rise tower and handed over possession to beneficiaries in 2019. After a change in Maharashtra government in 2019, the trustees passed a resolution to change the contractor for another phase of this project.

“A tendering process was initiated. However, residents began to complain to the state government about the quality of the second contractor’s work, and the fact that the work progressed slowly after the new contractor’s appointment. The complainants also alleged that political interests were involved during change of the contractor,” a source in the government said.

The SBUT project was envisioned in 2009 to lift the living standards of around 25,000 people in south Mumbai’s Bhendi Bazaar. The redevelopment project covers 16.5 acres, involving more than 250 decrepit buildings, 3,200 families and 1,250 shops.