The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has issued a stop-work notice to an ongoing cluster redevelopment project of the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) at Bhendi Bazar in south Mumbai, a civic official said on Monday.
The SBUT is carrying out Mumbai's largest cluster redevelopment project spread over 16.5 acres in Bhendi Bazaar comprising more than 250 decrepit buildings, 3,200 families and 1,250 shops.
BMC building proposal department's executive engineer Rajesh Dholay issued the notice on Saturday.
Dholay said questions were raised during the recent monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly on the ongoing SBUT project and an inquiry was sought, hence the notice has been issued.
If the SBUT does not comply with the notice, the department will take action against it under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, the notice said.
The SBUT in a statement on Sunday said "in accordance with the unexpected notice from the civic body, we have ceased all construction work on the site."
"This upliftment project is positively impacting the lives and livelihoods of around 25,000 people and upgrading the dilapidated infrastructure of Bhendi Bazaar," it said.
The entire project has been planned as per provisions of the Development Control Regulation 33(9) and is being carried out in line with the approvals and permissions of all authorities concerned, the trust said.
"The project has already improved the living standards of over 610 families and 128 business establishments owing to completion of the first phase of the project. We stay fully committed to delivering on the aspirations of the remaining tenants as well, by relocating them back to their new premises at the earliest," it said.
"As per Deputy Chief Minister's (Devendra Fadnavis) recent statement in the Legislative Assembly that the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment is a landmark project and work will not be stopped, we are positive that the notice will be lifted soon," the SBUT said.
The trust will continue to cooperate with the civic body and other government authorities while they review the matter, it added.
