BMC Proposes De-Reserving Andheri West Plot to Rebuild Laxmi Narayan Temple

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has proposed deleting the garden reservation from 1,840 square metres of a 2,278.90-square-metre plot in Ambivli, Andheri West, to facilitate the reconstruction of the dilapidated Laxmi Narayan Temple.

The proposal follows an application from the Shrimad Bharat Mandali Trust, which manages the shrine on the land. The trust requested that the de-reserved land be merged with the adjoining residential zone to enable the temple's rebuilding to accommodate an increasing number of devotees.

The proposal is scheduled to be tabled before the BMC Improvement Committee on Wednesday. If approved by the committee, it will be forwarded to the State Urban Development Department for final consideration.

The trust, registered in 1961, cited the temple's poor physical condition and rising attendance to seek the deletion of the reservation under Section 37 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. Official agenda documents note that the temple has existed on the Ambivli plot for decades and that the property card is registered in the name of the trust.

Citing the long-standing presence of the temple and the trust's social activities, the civic administration recommended that the request to remove the garden reservation can be considered.

The plot has undergone multiple changes in reservation status over successive civic planning cycles. It was designated as a playground under the 1967 Development Plan and converted to a recreation ground in the 1991 plan. A 2012 survey marked the plot as partly reserved for a social amenity and a slum cluster, before it was categorized as a garden and park under the current Development Plan 2034.