Mumbai: Stop-work notice to Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project revoked.

The stop-work notice issued to the 16.5-acre Bhendi Bazaar Cluster Redevelopment Project has been revoked, allowing work to resume after a halt of over two months. The C ward issued it recently.

The Rs. 4,000-crore project was brought to a standstill when the BMC followed up on deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis ordering an inquiry into complaints that the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, which is executing the project, had changed the original plans. There were also complaints of widths of existing roads being reduced and certain roads being deleted.

In December 2021, then deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had conducted an inquiry into the same complaints and given an all clear.

This time, the state urban development department directed the BMC to conduct an inquiry. The BMC constituted an inquiry committee led by deputy chief engineer Sunil Rathod. It visited the site and scrutinised the documents.

Sources said the layout for the cluster redevelopment had first been issued in 2015. Subsequently, it was amended in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and the last layout consisting of nine sectors was approved in 2021. Construction approvals have so far been granted only for the rehabilitation component and not for the sale component. "The on-site inspection shows the work is being carried out as per the commencement certificate granted by the BMC," said a source.

ET