Re: Your article on the first page of the Mumbai Newsline dated June 30, 2004, titled “Green zone turns slum area” by Rajshri Mehta.

Dear Sir,

           We appeal to you as a newspaper to be fair to all parties concerned when reporting an issue of public importance. The basic objective of the SRA is to improve the city of Mumbai and we are extremely distressed and demoralized by the injustice of your article.

           I have enclosed a list of factual errors in your article:

       *   Your article reports that the SRA plans to “knock down” the hill known as “Green Hill Slope”. The fact of thematter is many buildings have been constructed on, along and/or adjoining hilly terrain without knocking down the hills.

       *   The article states that the hill is a reservation, and that the residents were unaware that the land had changed from a green zone to a notified slum area. The fact is “Green Hill Slope” is not a reservation. The land (partly) earmarked as “Green Hill Slope” in the Development Plan has been occupied by slums prior to earmarking it as “Green Hill Slope”. It is already notified as a slum under the slum act in 1978 & therefore this land is eligible for the implementation of the slum rehabilitation scheme. The notification is issued by SRA to earmark the land for Slum Rehabilitation Area instead of Greenhill Slope. Greenhill Slope category is not covered under the guidelines dated 3/6/92 issued by Urban Development department of Govt. of Maharashtra for development of lands reserved for various public purposes & hence technical difficulty arose in granting approval to the scheme. Therefore this notification is issued by SRA to remove that technical difficulty. This does not change the actual status of the land.

       * The existing slum known as Vitthal Mandir, Datta Mandir, Forgett Hill of Datta Mandir, Vithalwadi, Namdeowadi, C. H. Soc. on C. S. No. 3/653(pt), 4/653(pt) & 5/653(pt) of the Malabar Hill division was declared a slum as per notification dated 21/10/1978 published in the Govt. Gazette dated 02/11/1978. Annexure II for the eligibility of the slum dwellers is issued by the competent authority on 03/11/1997.

       * Commander Ashok Batra’s claim reported by your article that “The move clearly attempts to circumvent the 2002 Bombay High Court...” is also sadly factually flawed. The fact of the matter is: The land is a notified slum since 1978 and the Government has acquired the said land from a private party for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers on March 9, 2001, as per the provision of the Maharashtra Slum Act, i.e., before the WP of Citispace was filed. The scheme was to be approved in 2001 but due to the technical difficulty stated above the same could not be approved. It is in the year 2004 that the Govt. made the decision to initiate the procedure for the change of “Green Hill Slope” as per MR & TP Act – 1966 (section 37) and accordingly SRA issued public notification under section 37 (1) (B) of MR & TP Act for inviting suggestion / objections from public.

        *   With regard to the impending erection of developer Halkara’s “30-floor tower”, the fact is that the Letter of Intent (LOI) for this proposal has not even been approved and so it is highly premature to mention the project, let alone the number of floors.

         *   And finally, the claim of yet another furious and badly informed citizen, Mr. Burjor Cooper, wherein he states that only lower part of the slope is encroached while the top is “open and green” entertained by your article is entirely untrue. The hill is covered by slum dwellers. We have photographs to support this fact.

          SRA has been set up to eradicate the many problems created by the slums without taxing the already over-burdened citizens, ameliorate the flow of traffic and create other amenities. It is sad that people with vested interests and ill-informed do-gooders raise the bogey of a nexus between the Govt. and developers to bring whatever little we can do towards the progress of this city to a grinding halt with the help of irresponsible journalism.

          We, at the SRA are trying to do a very difficult job, transparently, and out of the belief that it will truly be beneficial to the city of Mumbai and its citizens. At the very least, I would be very grateful for the accuracy of your facts, if not for your unstinted support for the morale of the people involved.

          We will be happy to entertain anyone from the Fourth Estate at any time seeking true information about any of our projects. You may contact Mr. Kharche on Tel. 022-26591533; email: kharche@sra.gov.in for more information.

          We hope that now that you are in possession of the facts of this matter, you will graciously print a detailed retraction and hopefully partially salvage the damage caused by your newspaper.

Thanking You,