The Railways prove ownership of 10-acre plot in Bandra (E) with documents that are over 100 years old. They plant to fund future development through sale of the land.
Documents that are more than a 100 years old consisting of maps, designs and records have helped the Railways get hold of a 10-acre plot at Bandra (E) adjacent to the railway station. The Maharashtra government has vacated a stay order on the status quo on this plot and asked the Mumbai suburban Collector to carry out a fresh survey.
This decision was made after the state government checked the documents and papers dating back to 1911 to 1917, which were presented by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC). The MRVC had submitted these documents in September 2010 to substantiate their claim on the plot.
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The document shows that the then Collector of Thane had handed over the prime plot to the Bombay Baroda & Central India (Railway) at a cost of Rs 4,74,962 and 9 paise and 15 anna. The railway authority claims that two years later, the government has indicated that the land belongs to the railways.
"Commercial development has been planned wherein nearly 45,000 square meters of land would be commercially exploited having a floor space index of 4," said Rakesh Saxena, Managing Director, MRVC. This would subsequently pave way for high-rise office buildings and other commercial centers there on the plot that is next to the Western Express Highway.
The cost of this land is over Rs 4,500 crore although the present market value is yet to be substantiated. "The money will purely go for undertaking MUTP phase 2 and the revenue out of it will easily fetch us over 40 percent of the MUTP-2 project cost," said another MRVC official.
MUTP-2 is expected to cost Rs 5300 crore wherein new rakes for local trains will be procured, additional lines will be added and other infrastructure improved.
The railways propose to use half of the amount fetched from sale of this plot for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, one-third to develop rail projects in the state and one-sixth for rail projects in India.
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