Mumbai: Following a TOI story of March 29, on how South Mumbai residents have launched a campaign titled ‘Unlock the Exit’, that seeks a south-bound exit on the Mumbai Coastal Road towards Nepean Sea road, a group of residents finally managed to get a hearing with the Public Works Department (PWD) that needs to part with a 10.5m land strip in the MSRDC Napean Sea Road plot for an exit or public road to be made in order to decongest Breach Candy–Kemps Corner–Malabar Hill corridor. The residents, led by local MLA MP Lodha of the BJP, handed over the municipal commissioner’s letter dated Dec 26, 2025, to additional chief secretary-PWD Milind Mhaiskar, requesting him to instruct MSRDC to hand over 10.5m wide land strip. “We thank MLA M P Lodha and Milind Mhaiskar (IAS) for hearing our representation. Given broad public support, we urge the PWD to clear the BMC’s proposal to convert the 10.5m land strip in the MSRDC Napean Sea Road plot into a public road to decongest the Breach Candy–Kemps Corner–Malabar Hill corridor,” said a resident, who was a part of the meeting and associated with the campaign. The residents clarified that their requirement is a 10.5 m land strip on the extreme right end of the MSRDC plot abutting the Embassy Apartments compound wall and not the entire MSRDC plot. The movement, spearheaded by residents from Breach Candy to Malabar Hill, argues that a critical exit originally proposed in earlier planning stages was dropped in the final Detailed Project Report of the year 2016, leading to severe congestion in the area today. Residents claim that while the Coastal Road has cut travel time from Bandra to South Mumbai, the final leg of just 300 metres to Mukesh Chowk can take as long as 20 to 25 minutes during peak hours. In a separate development, the campaign has also received response from housing societies in the locality. In the eight days since start, they have received endorsements form 60 plus housing building societies across Breach Candy-Kemps Corner- Malabar Hill corridor representing 3,090 households. Sources said the concern of the authorities is that parting away with a part of the land for the public road could reduce the monetary value of the land.
