Mumbai: Army tells BMC to stop building work near depot

The ordnance depot in Kandivli

Builders in the Malad-Kandivli belt have been losing sleep thanks to a circular sent by the Central Ordnance Depot that will effectively halt work on all ongoing projects around military establishments. The circular cites Defence Ministry guidelines of 2011 prohibiting constructions within 500 metres of army outposts. It is said that real estate projects that get stuck in Mumbai are likely to never get completed. Builders in Malad-Kandivli and the people who bought flats in these areas are now affected.

Due to a lack of a No Objection Certificate NOC from the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) in the Western Suburbs and the Navy in the Central Suburbs, several projects have been held up and new circulars are awaited from the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Meanwhile, the COD, Kandivali, sent a letter to the Building Proposals Department for development within 500 meters of COD, citing a 2011 notification. The builders of Malad-Kandivali have lost their sleep over this.

The letter sent by the Central Ordnance Depot to the BMC citing Ministry of Defence Guidelines, 2011

In the circular dated September 9 (which the BMC received on September 13) - addressed to the executive engineer of the BMC's Office of Building Proposals at Kandivli (East), the COD quoted a letter sent by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to a developer saying that "following our guidelines dated May 18, 2011, the SRA has sent a stop work notice to a developer and asked to take our NOC which is correct. You also implement our guidelines dated May 18, 2011, and [give an] order to take our NOC by giving stop work notices to any projects which have been given permission in violation of our order."

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Builders in the city are looking at this COD circular in conjunction with the petition filed by Shethia Infrastructure Pvt Ltd in the High Court. The COD also referred to the SRA's project in its circular as that of Shethia Infrastructure.

Shethia Infrastructure has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court alleging that the BMC and SRA have given permission to certain builders in the city who are undertaking projects within 500 meters of the COD. During its hearing on August 29, the court asked the central government, state government, BMC and SRA to respond within four weeks. Now the hearing is set for Wednesday. As the court is ready to give a verdict on this matter at the next hearing, the builders and people of Mumbai are waiting to see what happens in the High Court. But this letter from the COD before the hearing has made them worried.

Although it was believed that the cancellation of the December 23 circular would once again open the doors of development for such projects, it has become a matter of concern for builders as the COD, in its latest letter, clarified that only the May 18, 2011, circular will be considered as a basis.

When mid-day asked the Deputy Chief Engineer (Building Proposal, Western Suburb-2) C D Choudhary if he had issued a stop work notice to any builder based on the COD letter, he responded, "I will check and let you know".

Meanwhile, a well-known architect and past president of Practicing Engineers, Architects and Town Planners Association, India (PEATA), Manoj Daisaria told mid-day that if we look at it this way, before December 23, 2022, proposals within 10 meters of COD were not allowed, as per a circular issued in 2016. "The same criteria should be there today, but the Defence Ministry issued a new circular in December 2022 and then promptly kept it in abeyance. Thereafter, they chose to interpret it in their own way. They should think about the impact it has," he said.

A number of projects in the city have either been stalled or cannot be redeveloped due to circulars issued by the Ministry of Defence from time to time. However, with the intention of bringing about a solution, the Ministry of Defence issued a circular in December 2022 which created an atmosphere of happiness for some people and sadness for others. However, a new order suspending the same circular was issued by the Ministry of Defence in February this year.