Court nod for housing projects near Taloja jail

MUMBAI: The Bombay HC on Monday gave the go-ahead for the construction of 13 highrise projects around Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai. Two of these projects comprise housing schemes by Cidco for middle and lower income groups, the rest are by private developers for project affected persons.

A bench of Justice N H Patil and V L Achliya passed the order in a PIL filed by an accused, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, after it was pointed out that some of these projects were near completion. Ten projects were constructed till their approved height. Buildings ranged from ground plus seven to ground plus 22 floors or up to 70 metres. A stop work notice had however been issued last December after the state issued a policy to prevent construction within 500 metres of the jail wall. Rules for building activity aro8und the prison had till then barred construction within 600 feet (182 metres) of the prison wall. But between 182 m and 500 m was a huge 48-hectare space available for development.

Cidco counsel G S Hegde said the permission for these %13 projects was granted before the December 2013 decision. The total revenue at stake for Cidco is over Rs 1,000 crore.

Darius Khambata, advocate general for the state, said there was one building which had crossed the permissible height limit of 92 metres.