Coastal land lease irks residents in Lokhandwala

MUMBAI: Residents of Lokhandwala are fuming over MHADA leasing out a plot of mangrove land in the area for building a club-house. The land apparently belongs to the CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone), which doesn't allow such construction.

This year MHADA is understood to have leased out a 7,500 square metre land between SVP Nagar and Seven bungalows at Rs 98 lakh to a construction company called 3M. The CRZ rule prohibits private construction within 150 metres of the coastline and exemptions are granted only for public projects such as roads and bridges. In this case the land is right next to the creek.

Residents say they have met MHADA officials, but it the body has refused to withdraw its lease. MHADA's assistant land manager Rajan Hawal said MHADA was entitled to lease any of its land. He said MHADA would cancel the lease if the land was found to be CRZ's.

But residents are not ready to buy the argument. "If the land belongs to CRZ how can you lease it?" asked Rishi Aggarwaal, an environmental activist, who lives in the area. He said even if MHADA was legally entitled to lease its no-development land, the leasing-out shows the body's anti-environment stance. Residents have demanded that MHADA cancel the lease. Actress Raveena Tandon, who lives in the area, said, "It came as a shock to us that this sort of land (CRZ) is being given away."