Bombay Gym heritage bungalow to go for road widening

Mumbai: South Mumbai’s elite Bombay Gymkhana’s troubles only seem to be increasing. In a letter to the Mumbai city collector’s office, the BMC on Wednesday sought the gymkhana’s land, including a heritage bungalow, a storeroom, fitness centre and generator room, among several other structures, for widening Hazarimal Somani Marg from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) subway till the M G Road junction.
Assistant municipal commissioner (A ward) Kiran Dighavkar confirmed to TOI that the letter to acquire the land for widening of the road had been sent to the collector on Wednesday.
The civic standing committee on Wednesday passed a proposal to widen the Hazarimal Somani Marg from the subway till the entrance of Azad Maidan. But the proposal was passed on the condition that the BMC will widen the entire stretch till the M G Road junction, and not stop a little before the Azad Maidan entrance. The BMC plans to widen the 50-ft Hazarimal Somani Marg to 80 ft.
Corporators alleged that the civic administration was favouring the gymkhana by not taking over its land for road-widening. In the evening, the civic body wrote to the collector’s office, seeking 5,809 sq metres, including over 2,000 sq metres of land of non-built-up and built-up land of the gymkhana, for widening the stretch. As per the notice, the built-up structures of the gymkhana to be affected are spread over 565 sq metres, while the rest is non-built-up area. Among the structures to be affected are the single storey heritage bungalow, which was served a notice by the collector’s office recently, as it was “unauthorized”.
The collector’s office had stated that the bungalow was not on the map of the lease document. Apart from the bungalow, the storeroom, generator room, transformer room, fitness centre and pump room of the gymkhana will also be required.
The other structures to be affected include a cricket club on Azad Maidan, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission office, State Institute of Administrative Careers and several stalls.
Manoj Kotak, the BJP party leader in the BMC, said the road-widening was much-needed. “The area gets congested with traffic going up to almost the end of the road in the evening. The BMC needs to complete the widening as soon as possible as it is an important connector between Churchgate and Fort,” said Kotak.
The BMC also told the collector that the affected structures would be taken into consideration while preparing the tender document for road-widening, and they will be shifted back and constructed through a civic contractor too.