Eight landmarks Mumbai would have lost to the Development Plan

The BMC's draft development plan has omitted as many as 1,048 of 1,496 heritage structures in the city. Here are eight prominent ones

If there is any indication that the civic authorities have not applied their mind while drafting the development plan (DP) 2034 for Mumbai, it is the glaring omission of as many as 1,048 heritage structures out of 1,496, along with several other landmarks that the city is known for.

Here are some of maximum city's more conspicuous landmarks that, according to the BMC, don't even exist.

1.The Marine Drive stretch: Dotted with the art deco buildings that capture the architectural style that emerged after the Second World War, this stretch of road houses the largest collection of such buildings after Florida's Miami beach

2. Town Hall, a Grade I heritage structure that houses the iconic Asiatic Society of Mumbai. The society traces its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on November 26, 1804.

3. Oval Maidan: A 22-acre Grade I recreational ground very close to Churchgate Railway Station, where cricket and football matches are played regularly.

4. Jehangir Art Gallery: Founded by Sir Cowasji Jehangir in 1952 at the request of noted painter K K Hebbar and nuclear physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the gallery takes centrestage in the rennaisance of Indian Art. The DP had not only ignored the gallery's very existence, but had also earmarked it as a veterinary hospital.

5. Five Gardens: Iconic open spaces that serve as the landmark for the Dadar Parsi Colony, that were created by Mancherji Joshi, a renowned Zoroastrian.

6. Bandra Railway Station: This structure, remniscent of Victorian architecture, was built way back in 1869 and connects to both, the harbour line terminating at CST Railway Station at the Southern end and the Western line that ends at Churchgate.

7. Mount Mary Church: The current edifice of the Church is about 100 years old. An earlier structure was destroyed by the Marathas in 1738. The Church's claim to fame is the statue of Our Lady that was brought by Portuguese Jesuit priests and the feast and Bandra Fair that draws in hundreds of thousands of devotees from different religions each year.

8. Aarey Colony: Set up in 1949 in Goregaon, the 4,000 acre colony has gardens, restaurants, a nursery, lakes, an observation pavilion, picnic facilities, and milk plants. Sixteen thousand cattle are reared on 1,287 hectares of land, and 32 cattle farms.

These are just some of the landmarks Mumbai would have lost to an ill-conceived, 20-year development plan that has now thankfully been scrapped.

Also read: Inundated with complaints, Maharashtra govt scraps Mumbai development plan