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Days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) purchased a 4.2 acre land parcel at Nariman Point from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) for Rs 3,472 crore to establish its new office complex, the Congress on Saturday warned of moving court and demanded rollback of the decision, accusing the state government of not conveying that the offices of political parties were to be built on that piece of land. Meanwhile, the Metro Corporation said the land agreement with the RBI is a ‘transparent government-approved process.’
“The Congress’s Gandhi Bhavan office and the offices of various other parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party, were located at Nariman Point in front of the Mantralaya for many years. On October 21, 2015, a Government Resolution was issued to construct a new office building in the same space on the Free Press Journal Road after the completion of the Mumbai Metro phase -3 by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the MMRC. The then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also given a letter to the Congress party on December 2, 2016, stating temporarily handover of the office for Metro work,” said Sachin Sawant, senior spokesperson of Maharashtra Congress.
Sawant said the MMRCL and the state government have reneged on their promise. “Without any discussion with the Congress, this land has been sold to the Reserve Bank for Rs 3,400 crore. The Metro Corporation has even cheated the RBI by not informing it of the promise to build offices for all political parties, including that of the Congress,” he said.
The land parcel, measuring 16,832 square metres, provides a buildable area of 16 lakh sq ft, of which 1.13 lakh sq ft is reserved for rehabilitation. It is among the last large plots available for development in Nariman Point, the business hub that has been at the centre of Mumbai’s commercial activity since the 1970s.The sale deed with RBI was executed on September 5, sealing one of the city’s largest institutional land deals in recent times.
Sawant further alleged that the market value of the land is Rs 5,200 crore, and that the agreement with the RBI has led to a loss of Rs 1,800 crore. “This transaction is arbitrary and criminal in nature and should be cancelled immediately,” said Sawant.
Maharashtra Congress Vice President Ganesh Patil said, “As promised, office should be given to the Congress party in its previous place. Else, we will move court.”
In its clarification, the MMRC said that the land in question has always been government land, known as the Vidhan Bhavan Barracks plot. “Certain government offices and some political party offices were housed there purely on a temporary basis in barrack structures. As per Government Resolution dated 23rd March 2023, the state government transferred this land for sale in order to raise funds for the capital works of the Mumbai Metro-3 project. The government had initially envisaged rehabilitation space for displaced offices. In the final transaction, the Reserve Bank of India purchased the land by paying the full negotiated value along with an additional amount in lieu of rehabilitation. This additional amount has been deposited with MMRC and will be duly transferred to the state government to relocate the concerned offices as per state policy and administrative requirements,” said a statement issued by MMRC.
It added that the transaction is a a transparent government-approved process aimed at mobilising resources for Mumbai’s critical Metro infrastructure.
