Now Reading: Shelar stalls Carter Road hoarding tender over CRZ breach
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Shelar stalls Carter Road hoarding tender over CRZ breach
Mumbai's suburban guardian minister Ashish Shelar has put on hold the BMC's tender for 35 LED hoardings along the Carter Road promenade, citing the absence of Coastal Regulation Zone permission from the…
Mumbai's suburban guardian minister Ashish Shelar has put on hold the BMC's tender for 35 LED hoardings along the Carter Road promenade, citing the absence of Coastal Regulation Zone permission from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. The project, planned under a public-private partnership model, will remain in abeyance until the required clearance is obtained.
Shelar has also directed the BMC to prepare a uniform Standard Operating Procedure for all of Mumbai's waterfront promenades, including Worli, Marine Drive and Bandstand. The decision follows citizen complaints about the commercialisation of public seafront spaces. Activist Furkan Shaikh welcomed the stay but demanded the tender be cancelled outright and called for citizen involvement in drafting the new policy.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Carter Road is a reclaimed stretch in the CRZ-II zone, where the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 2019 prohibits commercial billboards unless specifically permitted by the state authority. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority, a body under the environment ministry, has not granted such permission for this tender. Shelar's intervention effectively stalled a BMC plan that had cleared internal approvals but lacked coastal clearance. The decision also reflects a recurring governance gap: Mumbai's waterfront is split across the BMC, MSRDC and MMB with no single policy, leading to fragmented regulation. The BMC now faces the task of drafting uniform SOPs for all six major promenades, a process that will require public hearings and MCZMA sign-off before any tender can proceed.
Source: freepressjournal.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
