The LBS Road or the Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg is the biggest and the most congested road stretch in the eastern suburb.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally cleared the decks for widening the congested LBS Marg, that stretches from Sion to Mulund, by deciding to buy out at ready reckoner rates the over 100-year-old structures.
The LBS Road or the Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg is the biggest and the most congested road stretch in the eastern suburb with many a structure limiting the road's width to a mere 60ft-90ft. In fact, these structures had been posing as the main hurdle in the road's widening. However, the civic body, which aims to increase the road's width to 120 ft, could not begin work as the structure owners were reluctant to shift to areas offered by the BMC.
According to the BMC, there are over 1,200 structures that need to be removed. Many of the authorised structures are over 100 years old and the BMC must rehabilitate all. In face of stiff opposition by structure owners, the BMC has now made a provision of Rs300 crore for the structure owners in lieu of their structure space. "While 80% of structures are commercial, the rest are residential and the BMC doesn't have that much alternative houses or shops to rehabilitate the occupants," said a senior civic official.
"The procedure of buying out the owners will begin under the state policy of 1995 that concerns land acquisition for road-widening purposes," said another official.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had abandoned the project after eight years and in 2008, they handed over the road to the BMC for maintenance. Also, the MMRDA had surveyed the structures and submitted a report to the BMC, which the latter rejected, saying "it did not match the records".
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