Dear BMC and Maharashtra government,

Your handling of land and land-related issues in Mumbai is getting more and more confusing, opaque and illogical by the day. The saying is that the left hand does not know what the right does, but, in your case, it seems that both hands know perfectly well what’s being done and why; it’s only us, the people of Mumbai, who are deliberately kept in the dark or confused. So, here are a few questions.

Public Land And Public Interest

How, in what role, do you see yourself vis-à-vis public land in the city? Ideally, and legally, you are the custodian of all such plots and stretches of land, not their owner to do as you deem fit or your bosses, whoever they may be, dictate to you. You hold custody of land on behalf of the people of Mumbai and should be keeping public interest—the good and welfare of the majority of Mumbaikars—at the heart of all the decisions you take about the land in the city.

Yet, without public consultations and open discussions of plans calling for alternatives in a city flooded with experts and professionals, acres and acres of public land have been handed over—leased, as your circulars say, though many believe it is a euphemism—to private entities and large conglomerates in the name of ‘development’.

What ‘development’ happened in Mumbai after nearly 600 acres spread across the erstwhile Girangaon, the village of textile mills, were similarly monetised? How many and which Mumbaikars benefited from this anyway? The naïve amongst us, those who thought that governments........

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