A group of 127 residents of Mumbai have written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, raising concerns about the “indiscriminate monetisation” of public land in the city.
Among the signatories of the letter are retired government officials, former judges, retired defence personnel, academics, journalists, lawyers and activists.
The letter stated that public land in Mumbai, including railway lands, mill lands, port lands and other government-owned tracts, was being diverted for commercial and speculative development in the name of “revenue generation”. The signatories alleged that there was no transparency or accountability in the process.
The proposal to redevelop railway land, including suggestions to relocate tracks underground to free surface land for “development”, marked a “critical juncture”, they added.
Seen alongside similar monetisation efforts by other public authorities, the move raised questions about who benefits from such “redevelopment” and at what social and ecological cost, the signatories told the chief minister.
In September, the Rail Land Development Authority, the land development arm of the Indian Railways, announced plans to raise Rs 8,000 crore by leasing out about 25 acres in four prime locations of Mumbai.
In 2024, environmentalists raised concerns about the Union Cabinet’s 2024 decision to clear the use of 103 hectares of salt pan land for rental housing under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, a joint venture between the Maharashtra government and the Adani Group. Environmentalists have long opposed construction on salt pans, warning that they are part of a wetland system that buffers the flood-prone city.
The letter listed other examples of land “monetisation”, such as the 2016 transfer of 12 acres of Indu Mill land by the National Textile Corporation to the state government for the Dr BR Ambedkar memorial, in exchange for Rs 1,413.48 crore in transferable development rights.
Transferable Development Rights, or TDR, is a method by which the development potential of a parcel of land can be separated from it and used elsewhere. This enables a developer to construct buildings above the usual floor space index available for an area.
In 2023, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation also announced plans to lease its prime land holdings and offer development rights to offset financial losses.
These lands were originally reserved for housing, open spaces, amenities, transport and public infrastructure, the letter said.
It added that the outcome of their diversion was already visible in the loss of affordable housing, displacement of long-settled communities, shrinking open spaces and the irreversible transfer of public assets to private hands.
“The so-called ‘monetisation’ of public land is, in effect, the privatisation of the city’s future,” the letter said. “We categorically reject the notion that public land should be treated as a financial resource to fill fiscal gaps or fund short-term projects.”
“Land held by public bodies is not their property to sell or lease for profit, it is a public trust, held on behalf of citizens and future generations,” it added. “Once alienated, it can never be recovered.”
The signatories said that the government must follow basic principles of public land management, beginning with recognising that the state and its agencies are custodians and not owners of public land.
They urged the government to remove all “public land from speculative or commercial transactions, prioritise housing, open spaces, education, healthcare and transport over commercial gains, mandate full disclosure, consultations and independent review before any decision, and preserve and increase land held for public use”.
The citizens also made four demands to the Maharashtra government: release a white paper detailing all public transactions, leases and monetisation proposals in Mumbai, frame a unified public land policy covering all state and central agencies operating in Mumbai with clear disclosure norms and public consultation procedures, suspend all ongoing or proposed monetisation initiatives until such a policy is debated and adopted, legislate protections ensuring that all public land remains reserved for genuine public purposes, based on measurable per-capital requirements for housing, open spaces and amenities.
Also read: State, builders claim Mumbai’s salt pans are key to solving housing crisis. Is their plan viable?
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