Matunga Parking Tower Project Under Review After Protests

A month after Matunga residents protested the multi-level robotic parking tower project, the BMC’s roads and traffic department held a meeting on Friday to address objections. A senior official stated the project was sanctioned offline and is now under review following public opposition.

The 18-plus-storeyed parking tower is planned on a 1,518 sq mt plot right outside the congested area of Matunga Central railway station. The FPJ has been consistently reporting the objections raised by Matunga citizens and their demand to the civic body for a public session.

“It needs to be noted that Matunga parking tower is a Rs 125 crore project and the BMC informed that the project was sanctioned manually (offline). As per the rules, any tender above Rs 3 lakh needs to be online (on the MCGM website) and all permissions should be uploaded for public information. The project was sanctioned offline and only when the municipal commissioner pointed out, the project details were uploaded on the website,” Mumbai South Central BJP vice president and a Matunga resident, Dharam Sharma said.

Sharma who led the meeting with the civic officers on Friday, said, “What is the BMC trying to hide? Why are there discrepancies in such an expensive project using taxpayers’ money? If the fire NOC was granted for the project, why the Mumbai fire brigade did not have it in its record,” questioned Sharma.

The residents have also filed RTIs demanding NOCs from the department concerned and are awaiting the responses.

A senior BMC (traffic) officer said that they would submit a fresh report to the municipal commissioner and the higher authorities to take the final call on the project.

An additional municipal commissioner (projects) told FPJ that he has received the objections raised by the citizens on the project. When asked if the project will be cancelled as the residents demand, he said an official decision will be taken after evaluation.