CRZ norms to be bent for coastal police station

The state government has decided to relax the stringent Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) rules to expedite the plan to set up a police station and five chowkies along the 124-km coastline of Mumbai.

It has issued a government resolution directing the Mumbai city collector to bypass the CRZ rules while considering the Mumbai police’s proposal for the Versova Sagri police station in Santa Cruz.

“The central government had wanted two coastal police stations in Mumbai,” Madhukar Kohe, deputy commissioner of police, Port zone, said. “While the one at Yellow Gate has been functioning for a long time, we were unable to find a land in Versova that conformed with the CRZ norms for the Versova Sagri police station,” he said.

In the absence of a police station, the Versova Sagri coastal police, who have to
patrol the sea on the western front of the city, are functioning from the Yellow Gate police station building in south Mumbai.

Kohe said the police recently sent a proposal for the Versova Sagri police station near the Santa Cruz beat chowkie on the Juhu beach. “Now, with the government having issued the resolution, we believe it will be sanctioned soon,” Kohe said.

The DCP said the city also needed at least five more chowkies besides the four functioning in Sewree, Sassoon Dock, Cuffe Parade and Girgaum. But the CRZ norms had become a major hindrance.

“The GR will enable the police to get approvals for the chowkies urgently needed at Mahim Reti Bunder, Juhu, Versova, Madh and Gorai,” Kohe said.

 s_jyoti@dnaindia.net