Artist Jehangir Sabavala and a group of Altamount Road residents supported by Carmichael Road and the Tardeo-Haji Ali belt yesterday filed their objections to changing the nomenclature of the Green Hill Slope behind the Altamount Road area in South Mumbai to Slum Rehabilitation Area.

A hearing for the residents of the area was convened at the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) office before SRA Chief Executive Officer Ujjwal Ukke.

The Altamount Road area is one of south Mumbai’s most posh residential localities with realty prices hovering around Rs 15,000 per sq foot.

The neighbouring Carmichael Road is already embroiled in a controversy against the Twin Towers building at MP Mills compound in Tardeo, with residents alleging that cutting the hill for the two towers has endangered the stability of the slope.

Experts have warned that one has to “rectify the serious deficiencies immediately, lest the fragile stability of the cliff amplifies into a mishap of biblical proportions”.

Changing the Green Hill Slope into Slum Rehabilitation Area will necessarily mean that besides rehabilitation, the developer will get additional FSI to construct buildings around the area. The development will mean cutting the green hill slope adding to the danger lurking in this seismic zone.

Residents say the proposal is also an attempt to circumvent, bypass and nullify the July 2002 High Court order of Bombay which restrains the state Maharashtra and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority from sanctioning “without the permission of the court any rehabilitation scheme in respect of open spaces which are reserved for gardens, parks, playgrounds, recreational spaces, maidans, no development zones, pavements, roads and carriageways”.

However, Ukke argued that, ‘Green Hill Slope’ is not a ‘reservation’ area, and therefore it can be changed to Slum Rehabilitation Scheme Area.

His statement of Green Hill Slope not being a certified reservation area confirmed resident’s fears that the only way the SRA can bypass the judicial order is to re-categorise the reservation.

The residents are filing objections before any development comes up, simply because in the case of the Twin Towers case, objections were filed after a part of the hill had already been excavated for the new development.
     

The objections

* Changing the Green Hill Slope into Slum Rehabilitation Area will necessarily mean that besides rehabilitation, the developer will get additional FSI to construct buildings around the area.

* The development will mean cutting the green hill slope adding to the danger lurking in this seismic zone.

The high life

* The hill comprising the Carmichael Road and Altamount Road belts is called the Cumballa Hill.

* It is Mumbai’s most fashionable residential address with property prices ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 per square foot.

* High-profile constructions coming up include Kumar Mangalam Birla’s bungalow and the Ambani building.

* The area also houses:
The RBI Governor’s Residence
The Municipal Commissioner’s Residence
The Japanese Consulate
The Chinese Consulate
The South African Consulate
The Belgian Consulate