Wadala cemetery land use changed, Muslims protest
The move would inconvenience the 15 lakh Muslim population in the surroundings, the community has said.
Mumbai: The Muslim community in South and Central Mumbai is upset over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) decision to change plots’ reservation in Wadala from cemetery to higher educational purpose in the draft Development Plan (DP) 2034.
The move would inconvenience the 15 lakh Muslim population in the surroundings, the community has said. Civic officials said the plot was reserved for a Muslim cemetery since 1991, but the DP Planning Committee recently changed the reservation for higher education. The committee has recommended the deletion of reservation of cemetery.
It says, “The reservation of RSA 4.8 (cemetery) is shown on an existing slum and the entire area is surrounded by a residential zone. As Vidyalankar College is beside this plot and two existing cemeteries exist in the vicinity, the plot is relocated on city survey (CS) no 117. Therefore [the] areas are reserved for higher education and land garden/park.”
Local NCP corporator Niaz Ahmed Vanu said, “In the final draft DP 2034, the plots, located on salt pan land, were reserved for a kabrastan.” In a letter to civic chief Ajoy Mehta, he demanded that the higher education reservation be revoked.