Navy opposes transport dept’s office construction near Worli base

MUMBAI: The transport department’s plans to construct its headquarters in Worli have hit a roadblock as the Ministry of Defence has taken objection to the proposal as it’s in the vicinity of INS Trata, a missile battery base of the Indian Navy.
The transport commissionerate, in the absence of its own office in Mumbai, had proposed its headquarters in Worli and planned for a 16-storeyed structure with the cost of ₹179 crore. State transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar said that the proposal is stuck due to height restrictions.
As per the guidelines by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and local planning authorities, no construction is permitted within 500 metres of the perimeter of such defence installations. Beyond 500 metres and up to a certain radius, height restrictions are imposed, which vary depending on the proximity to the base. “We had issued a work order, but the defence did not permit us. We are talking with the Navy over the issues raised by them but there is no solution coming out. We don’t know why the Navy is not giving us permission. We are asking them if we can get permission if we change the design or have opaque walls on sides facing Trata. Till then we have to continue to be in the rented office at the telephone exchange at Fountain’’ said Bhimanwar.
At present, the transport headquarters operates out of the Flora Fountain Telephone Exchange building in Fort and a senior officer said that the space is very insufficient. “After shifting from the new administrative building, I was quite hopeful that we would move into a new building, but now our plans are stalled. It is really sad that our seniors never took concrete steps to have transport headquarters right since the creation of Maharashtra in 1960,’’ said the senior officer.
The defence spokesperson did not comment on this. But naval sources said that there is a height restriction around INS Trata- the missile battery base of the Navy.
The role of INS Trata is to defend the Indian naval establishments against enemy ship attacks. The Mobile Missile Coastal Battery (MMCB) Squadron is unique in the Indian Navy in the sense that it is an operational Missile Squadron that is intended to provide Missile Coverage and Coastal defence.
The transport commissionerate used to operate from Bandra and since some officers wanted it to be close to Mantralaya, they rented space in Fountain in exchange for the MTNL building in Fountain. The transport department had an office at Wadala that handled the licence section of Mumbai Central RTO and chose this spot for headquarters as it is centrally located and connected to Mantralaya by coastal road.
The state transport department had also planned offices for an additional director general of police (traffic) who is also in rented premises.
At present, the transport headquarters does not have any parking space and all cars of the transport department including the commissioner’s car are parked on footpaths. The transport department officers also face criticism for parking cars on footpaths. Hence they have planned a basement in the new building.