Chaitanya Marpakwar (THE TIMES OF INDIA; July 2, 2021)

Mumbai: Four years after receiving a BMC notice, actor Amitabh Bachchan’s family will finally have to part with a portion of their Prateeksha bungalow plot in Juhu for widening of the adjoining Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg. The BMC has asked Mumbai suburban collector Milind Borkar to instruct city survey officials to demarcate the exact portion required for the road-widening project, reports Chaitanya Marpakwar.

To eradicate the traffic bottlenecks in the lane leading from Prateeksha towards ISKCON temple, the BMC is taking over a portion of properties to widen Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg, which connects Chandan Cinema area to Link Road, from 45ft to 60ft. The work is almost done, but for the stretch in front of Prateeksha.
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NETA THREATENS TO GO TO LOKAYUKTA IF PART OF PRATEEKSHA PLOT NOT ACQUIRED

In 2017, Amitabh Bachchan’s family and their neighbours in Juhu were asked to give a portion of their plots for widening of adjoining Sant Dnyaneshwar Marg; most adhered to the notice. In 2019, the BMC demolished the boundary wall of a building adjoining Prateeksha, but the superstar’s bungalow was left untouched.

Congress corporator Tulip Miranda recently took up the issue with the K-West ward and claimed that the BMC was deliberately delaying the acquisition of the Bachchan property. “The adjacent properties have been acquired, but only Prateeksha bungalow has been left untouched. By sending the issue to the city survey officials, the BMC is only buying time...If the acquisition is not done, we will file a complaint with the Lokayukta,” Miranda said.

In a written reply to Miranda, K-West ward officials said the BMC would acquire the land as soon as the city survey office finalises the demarcation of the portion of the Prateeksha plot that is required. Civic officials said they had applied for getting the Prateeksha plot demarcated in December 2019 and also paid the fees. A joint measurement for the demarcation was held in February 2021. A senior official said city survey officials had pointed out some discrepancies in the maps, but all the details were submitted to their office to clarify the deviations. Bachchan did not respond to queries from TOI.