In a city where almost half the population lives in slums, working their backs off to provide that extremely simple roof over their heads, there are a few people who control large tracts of land, handed down through generations or gifted decades ago in a city where land is scarce and where every square foot of space brings a huge premium.
The city holds countless secrets close to its heart, and one among them is the identities of those who own land in Mumbai.
Who are they, and how much do they own?
For us, it was never Aamchi Mumbai; it was theirs, from the beginning!
According to a preliminary survey (2015) conducted by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), only nine private landowners and trusts own about 19.4%, or almost 1/5th, of Greater Mumbai.
It’s a 6,600-acre “real” check! While we were focusing on stocks, they had already started investing in real estate.
The biggest land owners of Mumbai:
I. Godrej & Boyce – 3,401 acres
II. FE Dinshaw Trust – 683 acres
III. Pratapsingh Surji Vallabhdas Khot – 647 Acres
IV. Jeejeebhoy Ardeshir Trust – 508 acres
V. AH Wadia Trust – 361 acres
YOU. Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Group – 269 acres
VII. Sir Mohammed Yusuf Khot Trust – 249 acres
VIII. Hirjibhai Dinshaw Billimoria – 206 acres
IX. VK Lal – 70-100 acres
Was it genuine or a hoax?
Not all land acquisitions were legal; some units encroached on acres of land to claim it as their own. Here is a list of those entities and how they acquired land under their name decades ago.
Godrej & Boyce
The SRA estimates that around 300 acres of land has been taken over, and the Godrej Group has become one of the leading real estate players in Mumbai due to its extensive land holdings.
The Godrej family acquired their land in the early 1940s from the Bombay High Court receiver. Initially given to Parsi merchant Framjee Banaji by the British East India Company in the 1830s, the land became available for sale in 1941-42.
FE Dinshaw Trust
In the 1970s, the trust controlled about 1,500 acres, but a large portion was later acquired by the government under the Urban Land Ceiling Act.
Then the forest department took about 800 acres, and Mhada acquired another 65 acres for low-cost public housing.
AH Wadia Trust
In the early 20th century, the Cama family of Mumbai Samachar, managing the trust, owned 1/3rd of the land in Chembur.
Ardeshir Hormusji Wadia, in the early 19th century, obtained the lease for Kurla for an annual rent of Rs 3,587, which is now mostly imposed.
Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Group
Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, a 19th-century Parsi philanthropist, received seven villages totaling 12,000 acres from the British East India Company in 1830.
He also owned Bandra Land’s End, where the Taj Hotel now stands.
Sir Mohammed Yusuf Khot Trust
Khot, an early 20th-century educationist and philanthropist and owner of the Bombay Steam Navigation Company, has most of the land leased to private companies such as L&T in Powai.
Trust land in Bhandup and Kanjur was fully taken by slum dwellers.
VK Lal
In the late 19th century, the Agboatwala family owned 3,200 acres in Dahisar. However, approximately 800 acres were given to the local tourists by the government, 644 acres sold in a public auction after a family dispute, and 700-800 acres acquired for the national park.
SRA estimates indicate that 70 to 100 acres held by VK Lal Properties in Kandivli were encroached upon.
All the nine mentioned units own land in places like Kurla, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Deonar, Malad, and Goregaon, which proves that there is no business like land business.
Would you rather stay in Mumbai?
Written by Shivani Singh
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