Maharashtra: The proposal for land exchange to shift the transmitter of the Airport Authority in Juhu (Vile Parle West) and DN Nagar (Andheri West) areas has not yet been approved by the Union Cabinet, and the height restriction of buildings in these areas has not yet been lifted. This has put the redevelopment of over 400 buildings at risk.
The high frequency transmitter of the Airport Authority has put a restriction on the height of these buildings and has prevented redevelopment. The state government has approved the exchange of land between the Airport Authority and the Municipal Corporation to shift the transmitter in DN Nagar to Gorai. However, since the proposal has not come before the Union Cabinet, the issue has not been resolved. Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Amit Satam once again raised the issue in the ongoing session in Nagpur. It was due to Satam’s follow-up that the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Minister K. Naidu and expressed his readiness to exchange land to shift the transmitter elsewhere.
MLA Satam said that the process is going on in this regard and a decision is expected soon. The height of the building in Juhu and its surrounding areas was limited to 57 meters (16 floors). However, the Airport Authority issued a revised order in January 2022, clarifying that it was interfering with the transmitter transmission, thereby limiting the height of the building to 33 meters (ten floors). So far, 16-storey buildings have been built in many housing projects. In some housing projects, the Airport Authority revoked the initially granted 57-meter height permission and issued a no-objection certificate for 33 meters height. The 33-meter height restriction halted redevelopment projects of old buildings in Juhu and DN Nagar areas. In Juhu area, developers approved the project according to the height of 33 meters.
This prevented residents from getting the benefit of increased area as before. However, this restriction halted the projects in DN Nagar area. Redevelopment has been put on hold as developers have not come forward to take up new projects. Chief Minister Shinde has written a letter to the Civil Aviation Minister expressing his willingness to hand over a four-and-a-half acre plot in DN Nagar from the Airport Authority to the Municipal Corporation and in return the Municipal Corporation will give a plot of the same size in Gorai to the Airport Authority to shift the transmitter. Not only this, he clarified that out of the 58 acres of land given for the metro in Gorai, 40 acres of land is being returned to the Municipal Corporation. This has cleared the way for shifting the transmitter to Gorai from DN Nagar. In return, a four-and-a-half acre plot in DN Nagar will be given to the Municipal Corporation by the Airport Authority and a park will be built on it. It was clarified that the height restriction will be lifted only after the transmitter is shifted. However, the approval of the Union Cabinet is necessary for this.
