City Pulse

Mumbai, Maharashtra: ​The J N Petit Institute library located on Dr D N Road in Fort area of Mumbai, which houses some of the rarest books of Siddharth College of Law, was established in 1856. The 161-year-old heritage building seems to be at the receiving end as Mumbai prepares to improve its transport system. The vibrations caused during the preliminary construction work of Metro III have inflicted damage on the foundation of this old building, the trustees of J N Petit Institute have claimed.

Metro III will connect Mumbai’s business hub Colaba to Seepz (the city’s upcoming special economic zone) via Bandra and is hailed by authorities and politicians as a game-changer for city’s transport system. However, the underground corridor may come at the cost of Mumbai’s heritage structures, which dot the South Mumbai area.

The trustees and owners of the J N Petit Institute library have moved to the Bombay high court against tunnelling work in the Fort area for the Metro III project complaining of structural damage to the foundation of the heritage structure. 

Through their petition, they claimed that, “Due to the constant vibration caused as a result of the ongoing tunnelling work at the proposed Hutatma Chowk metro station, a portion of the ceiling of the library building fell out.”

The petitioner also claimed, “The vibrations caused due to the drilling activity exceeds the permissible level for heritage buildings by four times (permissible level is 5 mm/sec)”.

However, experts have claimed that merely reducing the level of vibration will not be enough. “A 5 mm per second vibration could still hurt a structure which is not well maintained. The prescribed limit for any structure depends on how and when it was built and its current condition. There are a lot of heritage structures on D N road which are not maintained due to lack of funds,” says advocate Rajan Jayakar, city historian and former member of the Maharashtra Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC). 

The J N Petit Institute is not alone in complaining about damage from the underground boring being done by MMRC. 

The priests at two fire temples  - Wadia Atash Behram built in 1830 and the Anjuman Atash Behram  built in 1897  -  have protested against the Metro III route, having written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention. 

The two head Zoroastrian high priests, Dastur Firoze Kotwal and Dastur K M Jamaspasa, expressed in October their discontent with underground digging by writing to the PM that “An Atash Behram is a composite whole comprising not just the consecrated fire enthroned in the sanctum sanctorum, but also includes, within this definition, the whole edifice in which the divine fire is housed. During the process of consecration and enthronement, the holy fire is linked spiritually, to the earth below it, from which it draws sustenance.”

The MMRC claims that the foundation of heritage structures lies five meters below the ground and the tunnel boring work has been initiated at 25 meters below the ground level. 

Following the petition backed by the J N Petit Institute, the HC formed a committee comprising structural engineers representing MMRC, J N Petit Institute and IIT Bombay to ascertain the damage and suggest ways to prevent harm to the heritage structure in two weeks, while imposing an interim stay on the work.

After the committee gave its recommendations, the MMRC submitted a compliance report on November 10 listing out the steps it will take to protect the structures. Following MMRC’s reply, the HC removed the stay order on November 29 and directed the authorities to ensure that they meet the deadline without causing damage to the heritage structures.

The 33.5 km of Metro III line is mostly underground, with only one of the 27 key stations over ground, and runs directly beneath major roads. “When I was a part of the heritage committee in 2015, we had suggested that the Metro line should come up from Azad Maidan instead of D N road, which is just 10 to 15 minutes away from the proposed spot. And what’s the use of building a metro station near a local railway station (Churchgate),” questions Jayakar.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) provisions to protect historic structures made in the draft Development Plan 2014-2034 propose: “If there are any DP reservations on listed heritage structure and the development of such site, if adversely affects its character, then municipal commissioner on the recommendation of Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) shall initiate the process of modification/deletion of such reservation following due procedure.”

However, the MHCC’s recommendations have been overlooked. “The MHCC recommendations are not binding on the civic body. In 2015, we had alerted the civic chief that the Metro line needs to be shifted from D N road. He did not pay heed to our suggestion because he has the power to veto it,” said Jayakar.

Hanoz Mistry, a community activist and editor of Parsi Voice, who had started a petition on change.org demanding realignment of underground Metro, says that MMRC has not given any concrete assurance about the steps taken to protect the two fire temples. 

“We are not happy with the steps taken by MMRC. We just have their word as they have not given any written assurance. We have written to the PM Modi and our request has been forwarded to the state’s urban ministry. So, we are looking to exhaust all the diplomatic options before thinking of going to the court,” said Mistry.