Mumbai Urban Planning Crisis: Powai Emerges As Case Study Of Unchecked Vertical Growth And Infrastructure Failure

Mumbai, March 18: I shifted to Hiranandani Gardens, Powai in 2007–08. I had seen its transformation from a simple green place to an overcrowded suburb, with small bungalows and buildings making way for tall 7 to 12-floor buildings without commensurate widening of roads.

Today, several areas in Mumbai have become concrete jungles because FSI was sold or ‘gifted’ to builders without any thought about infrastructure. This is the worst example of ‘vertical growth’ of a city that urban planners are selling to us.

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Lessons from Lower Parel’s redevelopment

We saw the same disaster when the Lower Parel industrial belt was thrown open to builders with unimaginable FSI, without any setback even in mill lands that measured in 1000s of sq meters, not feet.

Sons of the soil whose generations had spent their lives there were pushed out into the periphery of Mumbai 50–60 km away because they did not get alternative new accommodation in situ. Anyone in this stretch will see this madness trying to cross the Kamla Mill compound or the malls.

This brings me to my move to Hiranandani Powai, an unimaginable island of greenery, wide roads (by Mumbai standards) and footpaths on which you can actually walk.

There have been at least two serious attempts to hand over these footpaths to hawkers, but citizens of the locality fought back and stopped it. Hiranandani builders had a world-class vision. They spared no effort to provide top-quality homes. The build quality and urban planning can vouch for themselves even today.

Unlike the Lokhandwala complex, where one could watch TV in the next building or smell food from the house opposite, Hiranandani had privacy, till now. However, the race to claim credit for ‘vertical growth’ by politicians and their collaborators hit here too.

Commercial expansion and rising pressure on infrastructure

The original design here had only two streets where commercial buildings were built. However, under the garb of ‘non-polluting industry’, a whole new street was developed that had four huge BPOs and related offices.

Another land bank owner, Supreme builder, took the call and built another huge complex next door. The traffic became a problem after that, but citizens were not bothered, as it was at one end of the complex.

Then the HC judgment about residential buildings in Hiranandani, which resulted in a feverish rise in building activities. The citizens now have had round-the-clock building activities, dust and noise pollution for years. One could only stoically bear with it. After all, we still were the ‘best designed’ urban residential complex of Mumbai!

FSI issues and planning failures

Then came the FSI bonanza. So, none of the societies built under a tripartite agreement between the MMRDA (representing the state government), the original land owners and the builder received conveyance or sub-lease from the MMRDA. The builder claimed that it was only an executor, not the holder of the lease land measuring around 230 acres.

MMRDA just sent the people a copy of the tripartite agreement, which had a 10-year original term, but got extended without any questions a number of times. However, today, that is not the crux of this article, it is so-called urban planning and its failure.

Corporate developments and traffic concerns

Due to some reasons, all the commercial buildings were leased to an MNC – Brookfields. Naturally, MNCs don’t have any concern for the local populace. The first thing it did was to take control of the roads and footpaths which citizens thought were theirs, as per layout plans of the complex.

They built some additional floors on a few commercial buildings. Then, they got a plan approved for redeveloping a 15-year-old commercial building ‘Citipark’ into an 18-floor structure with a few floors for retail etc. It is going to be a mall for all practical purposes.

It is to have a parking space of 1000 cars on a street crossing which is already jampacked. This means around 3000 cars every day. Was the traffic police consulted?

GCC project raises alarm among residents

While residents were struggling to come to terms with these disasters, came the announcement by the Maharashtra government about an MOU with Brookfields for a 30,000-seater GCC (Global Capability Centre) in one corner of the same Hiranandani complex, where a residential road of about 50 feet in width ends.

This means around 100,000 people will be coming to this complex in around 30,000 cars/buses/autos every day. Citizens do not know if visitor parking is available. We have seen footpaths here being used for parking bikes in the South Avenue, where the SEZ is created, and cars occupying all the roads in a complex which traffic police has grandly turned into a ‘No Parking’ zone!

How will these vehicles enter the complex, how will they exit? Obviously, nobody has any clue. Even today, during a normal day, it takes 15 min or more to exit or enter the complex. The Vikhroli link bridge (completed in 20 years) now brings thousands of cars into the complex to cross over from eastern Mumbai to western Mumbai via JVLR.

Is this ‘planned vertical urban growth’? Or is it just selling dust-filled air in the name of additional FSI without any thought to related infrastructure? The once peaceful, almost surreal Powai residential complex is on the verge of becoming a chaotic urban complex like BKC that was built 20 years back but is already choked.

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Citizens seek accountability

I have written to the Police Commissioner, to the Traffic Police to understand if they have any plans for traffic in this locality. I have written to the ward officer about blatant breaking of rules for construction and loud noise, but no answer.

Who is answerable to the citizens of Mumbai? Neither the MLAs nor the Ministers or the bureaucrats respond. Are citizens supposed to go to courts with all the expenses and time involved?

(The writer is an author and a prominent debater on television channels)

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