A beauty therapy for the pavement

If you beautify the area around your property, the value of your holding goes up manifold. It’s an old idea, but more and more real estate developers are adopting it throughout the city, even if it involves getting all kinds of permissions from BMC.

The latest to take up the construction and upkeep of the pavement bordering its property is Indiabulls, which is developing the plot near Elphinstone Road Station that earlier housed Jupiter Mills.

Snehal Jadhav, Shiv Sena corporator from ward 60, says Indiabulls has taken up the responsibility of developing the footpath, beautifying it, and maintaining it for the public.

All the encroachments along Tulsi Pipe Road were removed by the BMC before handing over the stretch to Indiabulls for widening the road and building a footpath.

Jadhav clarified that the stretch will remain public property and cannot be appropriated by Indiabulls for their own purposes. “They want to maintain the footpath because they want to increase the beauty of their plot,” she said.

Prakash Thorat, assistant municipal commissioner, G-South ward, said Indiabulls had got all the permissions from BMC. “They are going to build the footpath and grow plants to make it more graceful,” he said.

“It comes as a good deal for the BMC and the city because they maintain cleanliness. At the same time it saves the BMC’s money,” he said.

An Indiabulls spokesman said the company wants to beautify the area and it has no plan to use the space for its own purposes.