Mumbai: Two days after the political alliance partners in the BMC — namely the BJP and Shiv Sena — were at crossroads over a proposal to delete a 1,802.75-sq-metre Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RR 2.1) reservation at Majas in Jogeshwari East and convert the land into a residential zone, the same has now triggered opposition from the Congress group. The proposal was passed at the civic improvements committee meeting held on Wednesday.
The civic body’s 2026-27 budget records 34,129 PAP tenements approved by BMC, he said, while its latest PAP statement shows 33,332 tenements involving a total project cost of around Rs 20,751.67 crore. On the other hand, the same corporation is proposing to remove 1,802.75 sq metres of land already reserved specifically for Rehabilitation & Resettlement,” Azmi said, adding that the Majas proposal should also be viewed against what he described as a broader pattern of changes to public reservations, open spaces and valuable municipal land. Because the corporation says Mumbai urgently needs such housing, “On one hand, BMC is spending and committing thousands of crores to obtain PAP and rehabilitation housing.
“Once public land and public reservations are surrendered, they cannot easily be recreated,” Azmi said, arguing that the civic body must exercise greater caution before altering the purpose of reserved land. Congress leader Ashraf Azmi pointed to BMC’s own assessment of its PAP (Project Affected Persons) housing requirement. He cited the Century Mills land, a Mulund ground proposed for petrol pump use, Neville D’Souza Football Ground in Bandra-west as examples of matters that have raised public concern for change of reservations and for being given to private parties on long-term lease.
He has demanded that the proposal be cancelled and rejected when it comes before the Municipal House for an approval, saying the proposal should not become a precedent for removing public reservations to facilitate individual redevelopment projects.