Mumbai News: Colaba Residents Plan To File Multiple Petitions With Bombay HC After MMB Breaks Promise And Resumes VIP Jetty Work

Mumbai: Just after a day of assuring residents of halting the work for another week, the Maharashtra Maritime Board on Tuesday started the work for Colaba VIP jetty. The residents’ association has now asked more residents and activists to file petitions with the Bombay High Court challenging the proposed development of the jetty.

The residents of Colaba and other localities in South Mumbai have been opposing the proposed development of the Rs 229 crore jetty near Gateway of India alleging the destruction of the heritage vista and increase in traffic congestion. The Free Press Journal has been reporting on this matter since the residents started protesting against the jetty in March.

Colaba residents plan to file multiple petitions in Bombay HC after MMB resumes work on VIP jetty despite earlier assurance

On Monday members of the Clean Heritage Colaba Residents’ Association (CHCRA) met the MMB officials along with assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, where they were assured that they would be provided with all the documents by evening and the construction would not start for another week. However, MMB started the work on Tuesday by installing barricades near Gateway of India. Earlier, the barricading was stopped by the residents twice citing MMB’s verbal stop work order.

Deepaq Silan, a member of CHCRA, said, “This time they are also welding the barricades so that it can not be removed. The workers have claimed that they have been instructed to start the work and even break the heritage wall near the Gateway as a part of access for the jetty. Maybe they have realised that the court will stay this work and therefore they are in a hurry.” He added that they did not receive the documents from MMB till Tuesday evening.

CHCRA moved the Bombay High Court on Monday against Maharashtra government and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), stating that the proposed development is illegal, irrational, arbitrary and destructive of the heritage vista. The residents have sought a stay order against the construction until the authority provides relevant documents to the residents.

The association’s advocate Prerak Choudhary, who is also a member of CHCRA, has also shared the case details and available documents with other residents and activists asking them to file parallel petitions in the case. The association plans to get multiple petitions filed in the High Court which can be clubbed together and heard for a favourable decision.

“We are now pushing more people to file parallel petitions which will be helpful for our case. To make their work easier, we have shared with them the case details of our writ petition and all the documents available. We believe that if multiple petitions are heard by the High Court, we can get a decision in our favour,” said Silan.