The Lokayukta, Justice V.M. Kanade, has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to submit a report in four weeks, listing out the steps it had taken in the last four years to acquire the land from Amitabh Bachchan’s bungalow, Prateeksha, for road-widening. This follows a complaint by the Congress to the Maharashtra Lokayukta about the BMC’s inaction. The civic body has since four years failed to take over a part of land from Prateeksha bungalow at Juhu in Bombay for the purpose of widening the road leading to ISKCON temple. This, in spite of the fact that it had asked the city survey officials in July this year to demarcate the portion which needed to be acquired.
The BMC sent the first notice to Bachchan and owners of neighbouring plots of land in 2017, asking them to surrender a portion of their respective plots. While the civic body demolished the boundary wall of a building premises adjoining Amitabh’s bungalow, the compound of the star’s bungalow was left untouched. Congress corporator Tulip Miranda had taken up the issue with BMC’s K West ward, asking them to speed up the road-widening project. She accused the BMC of deliberately delaying acquisition of Bachchan’s property. In July this year, the BMC informed Miranda that it would acquire the land as soon as the city survey office had finalised demarcation of the portion to be acquired.
Miranda then filed a complaint with the Lokayukta in October this year. In the hearing, the BMC stated that Amitabh Bachchan had not replied to its notice under section 299 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. The civic body also said that it was waiting for the city survey officials to revert on the portion of land which was to be acquired. Miranda wondered how the civic body could wait for the star’s reply for four years! She added that although portions of land of the adjoining and adjacent properties had been acquired, the road-widening project was being delayed for just Amitabh Bachchan.