MUMBAI: For a locality with a population of over 3,76,000, Versova could soon lose a planned fire station if a BMC proposal to delete the reservation and convert the land for residential use goes through.
Ashraf Azmi, Congress group leader in the BMC has questioned whether a discrepancy in the location of the municipal chowky can be used to justify the deletion of a separate fire station reservation. How did this happen, and who prepared, checked and certified the plan? “The Corporation must establish what additional development potential this creates and who stands to benefit. The BMC has sought approval to initiate suggestions and objections.
The land, around 3,439 sq m in a Versova MHADA layout, has 2,296 sq m reserved for the chowky and 1,143.16 sq m for the fire station. Another 740.40 sq m of over 2,550 sq m of the adjoining police chowky reservation on Location B is proposed to be merged with this. The proposal follows a request made by the chief officer of MHADA’s Mumbai Board on July 16, 2025, seeking corrections to existing reservations shown in the BMC’s DP 2034 on the MHADA plot. He has sought an explanation of why the fire station was included in DP 2034 and what changed subsequently for the BMC and fire brigade to conclude that it was no longer required. Congress corporator Meher Mohsin Haider also reiterated that the proposal could not be treated as merely a correction to DP 2034. “The Corporation’s own records show that the municipal police chowky reservation had already been shifted under the sanctioned DP 1991 and the approved 2011 layout, yet the old reservation reappeared in DP-2034. Any modification will ultimately require the state government’s approval under Section 37(2).
An official from the Development Plan department said that an earlier location for the police chowky approved in 2010 was not properly reflected in the DP, resulting in the old location continuing to be shown, and the BMC had therefore proposed retaining the police chowky at Location B in accordance with the earlier approved layout.
Haider said.
The proposal has been placed before the BMC Improvement Committee for initiating the process. The proposal was referred back at the improvements’ committee on Wednesday but will be re-tabled again this month.
Dhaval Shah of the Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens’ Association criticised the proposal, saying that with all beach-facing properties going in for redevelopment, the population would increase fivefold. “With rapid redevelopment and major infrastructure projects such as the Versova-Dahisar Link Road, the Andheri-Lokhandwala-Oshiwara belt is likely to see a significant rise in population and emerge as a major transit hub. So this particular fire station reservation which is being deleted will cater to all these residents. There is no point in deleting reservations to aid a developer.”
“The Versova-Madh bridge is also being constructed,” he said.
