Powai Residents Petition CM Over Environmental Clearance for Proposed GCC Campus

In Powai, controversy has intensified over the environmental clearance for a proposed 30,000-seat Global Capability Centre campus, as project proponent B.H. Sharma asserted on July 27, 2026, that necessary approval is already in place.

However, local residents and activists have questioned the validity of the clearance, pointing out that official documents classify the development differently and fail to account for its massive civic and infrastructure impact.

The 2022 environmental clearance (EC) names Bhawanishankar H. Sharma as the project proponent and describes the venture as a Rehabilitation Scheme along with Sale Component rather than a commercial Global Capability Centre (GCC). The clearance makes no mention of Brookfield Properties or JPMorgan Chase, despite Brookfield's public announcement of a build-to-suit lease with JPMorgan Chase for a six-acre Powai campus.

Activist B.N. Kumar obtained a Right to Information response showing that no EC or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) record is available specifically for a GCC project at the site. Kumar stated that Sharma's clarification failed to address the missing EIA report or place the underlying document in the public domain.

The 2022 EC outlines a development scale that includes 11 rehabilitation buildings with 3,986 flats, a three-wing commercial building, and eight parking towers. The document projects an occupant population of 37,550 and estimates daily requirements at 3.053 million litres of water, 2.72 million litres of sewage generation, and 9.33 tonnes of solid waste, alongside parking for nearly 3,600 vehicles.

Powai Area Locality Management (ALM) Convenor Pamela Cheema questioned the mandate for 3,986 rehabilitation flats, noting that there is no slum surrounding the site. She warned that a project of this magnitude would place severe strain on local roads, traffic, and civic infrastructure.

In response to these concerns, the Powai ALM and nearly 20 co-operative housing societies recently submitted a petition to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking an immediate review of the project.

The residents' petition states that the proposed two-million-square-foot campus would overwhelm the already saturated Powai-Chandivali road network and the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road. The petition also raised alarms regarding emergency services, the Powai Lake ecosystem, and biodiversity corridors connected to Sanjay Gandhi National Park due to hill cutting near the Parksite-Vikhroli slopes.