Govt promises to relocate AAI’s transmission towers, 400 Andheri buildings to benefit | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: In a significant relief for around 400 residential buildings in D N Nagar and Gulmohar area of Andheri West, industries minister Uday Samant on Wednesday announced that the government would complete the land allocation process to relocate the high-frequency transmission towers of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to a new site within the next three months.

The government’s announcement follows BJP MLA Ameet Satam’s raising of the issue through a calling attention motion in the legislative assembly. Satam stated that the high-frequency transmission towers of AAI had limited the permitted height of buildings within their radius, preventing the redevelopment of old residential buildings in D N Nagar. There are currently no takers for redevelopment, as the height restriction in D N Nagar is 32 metres or seven to eight floors.

“Due to this height restriction, the redevelopment of several buildings has been stalled in D N Nagar, Juhu, and the Gulmohar area,” said Satam in the assembly. “It has been over four years since the government’s response on December 17, 2020. People who have bought their own homes with their hard-earned money, and whose buildings have completed 45 years, will be issued notices for their buildings being dilapidated. Middle-class families will be out on the streets.”

Satam said they had been pursuing the matter with both the central and state governments but there was still no solution. “The towers in D N Nagar cannot be shifted to Gorai so we need to know where they will be relocated,” he said. “I want to know if a solution will be provided in a time-bound manner. Specifically, I want to know the time frame for shifting these transmission towers and when the BMC will scout for land and hand it over to AAI.”

Responding to the issue, Samant said that a committee needed to visit the location to plan the shifting of the towers. “After the committee visits the alternative plot, we can immediately start the process of relocating the towers,” he said. “I spoke to civil aviation minister Muralidhar Mohol today, and he is also positive about resolving the issue. Our chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has also communicated the strong feelings of the elected representatives and the local people to the union government. Before the next assembly session, we will complete the process of land allocation for shifting the towers to a new location. We will then immediately work towards relaxing height restrictions.”

Parag Sawant, an affected resident from D N Nagar, said, “Our building was planned with 16 floors and the agreement was signed with the developer in December 2020. The height restriction from AAI came in July 2021. Now it has been constructed up to 12 floors but not as per the agreed height and hence it has come to a standstill. But at least it has been redeveloped—there are so many buildings in D N Nagar where developers are not even willing to take up projects due to AAI’s height restrictions.”