All Procedures Followed For Bal Thackeray Memorial: BMC Tells Bombay High Court

The Mumbai civic body has informed the Bombay High Court that all procedures were followed before changing reservation of the sea facing Mayor's Bungalow to a memorial for Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, in the Development Plan of 2034. Moreover, the plot's deletion from the 'green area' and inclusion as a 'residential area' was also in accordance with law under Section 37(1AA) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act 1966, the civic body asserted, adding that the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) has also granted permission for the "Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Museum," the affidavit read. The bungalow, which sits on a large plot, provides unobstructed views of the Arabian Sea and it has been the mayor's official residence for more than four decades. A Byculla bungalow is now the Mayor's official residence. The affidavits were filed in a 2017 PIL by one Bhagvanji Rayani against allotment of the Mayor's Bungalow situated at Shivaji Park, Dadar, for the memorial and sanction of Rs. 100 crore to "The Thackeray Memorial Trust," which would be headed by the Thackerays. Rayani claimed that the 11,000 sq meter plot on which the Mayor''s bungalow was situated came under the Heritage II category. However, neither was the MHCC's permission taken nor were suggestions and objections called for. "I submit that the change in Reservation in Sanctioned DP 2034 has been done in accordance with the provisions of the MRTP Act and public suggestions & objections were called for as contemplated in the MRTP Act and only then the modifications were sanctioned," the additional affidavit filed by the BMC read. The BMC said that after all the procedures were followed, via a government notification dated January 22, 2019 issued under Section 31(1) of the MRTP Act, the label of Mayor's Bungalow was changed to 'Bal Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak' and the land was deleted from Green Zone and included in the Residential Zone. Bal Thackeray died aged 86 on November 17, 2012, after a prolonged illness. In November 2015, then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that a memorial would come up at the Mayor's Bungalow. In 2017, the state urban development department issued a notification that the bungalow site would be leased to the memorial trust — Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas — for 30 years at a nominal rate of Re 1per year. This prompted several PILS. According to reports, most of the memorial would be underground and will house an art gallery, a library, a seminar hall, a lecture hall and utilities. Bal Thackeray's cartoons will be on display here, too.

All Procedures Followed For Bal Thackeray Memorial: BMC Tells Bombay High Court

Sharmeen Hakim

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