New Delhi: A group of over 120 prominent citizens including activists, urban planners and former officials have written to the Maharashtra government on Wednesday (November 12) expressing strong opposition to “indiscriminate monetisation” of Mumbai’s public land, including railway, port, and mill lands for commercial and speculative development.

In a detailed letter and white paper emerging from a meeting organised by the Moneylife Foundation on October 4, the signatories including former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, retired Justice G.S. Patel, former naval chief admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, and RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi underlined that the state and its agencies are "custodians, not owners" of public land. 

"These lands were originally reserved to serve the people of Mumbai — for housing, open spaces, amenities, transport, and public infrastructure. Instead, they are being steadily diverted to private interests in the name of “revenue generation,” with no coherent policy, no transparency, and no accountability to the citizens who are the real stakeholders," the letter addressed to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, read.

It added: "The outcome is visible: the loss of affordable housing, displacement of long-settled communities, shrinking open spaces, and irreversible transfer of public assets to private hands. The so-called “monetisation” of public land is, in effect, the privatisation of the city’s future."

The signatories have urged the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps to restore transparency and accountability in the management of Mumbai’s public land. They have called for the release of a comprehensive white paper detailing all public land transactions, leases, and monetisation proposals currently underway in the city. Further, they have demanded the formulation of a Unified Public Land Policy covering all state and central agencies operating in Mumbai, with clear disclosure norms and public consultation procedures.

Until such a policy is debated and formally adopted, the citizens have asked that all the ongoing and proposed monetisation initiatives be suspended. They have also sought legal safeguards to ensure that public land remains dedicated to genuine public purposes – such as affordable housing, open spaces, and essential civic amenities – based on measurable per-capita requirements.

The letter written by the prominent citizens is available here.

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