Mira-Bhayandar industrial shed height permissions could be revised after Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik directed the administration to begin a process allowing steel factories to raise their sheds under existing rules. The move follows complaints that waterlogging is disrupting production after road construction and concretisation raised road levels around industrial plots.
Several factories and industrial properties in the Mira-Bhayandar area are now reportedly situated lower than adjoining roads. During the monsoon, rainwater accumulates inside or around these premises, affecting manufacturing activity and causing losses to industrialists, according to the report presented at a meeting held at the state secretariat.
Sarnaik instructed officials to examine the possibility of permitting higher sheds on the existing sites rather than requiring factories to shift or acquire new land. The proposed permissions would have to consider the current height of surrounding roads, the geographical conditions of each area and applicable fire-safety requirements.
The direction does not itself grant permission to individual factories. Instead, it asks the Urban Development Department and other relevant agencies to prepare a separate proposal for Mira-Bhayandar. The proposal is expected to establish the administrative and regulatory basis for considering applications to increase industrial shed heights.
The process will include publication of a preliminary notification, followed by an invitation for suggestions and objections from citizens and industrialists. Authorities have been instructed to consider the responses received before preparing the final proposal. Any future approvals will therefore depend on the completion of this process and compliance with the applicable construction and fire-safety requirements.
The issue reflects a practical conflict created when road levels change around existing industrial areas. While road concretisation and new construction can improve road surfaces and drainage in some locations, the resulting difference in levels can leave older industrial premises vulnerable to rainwater accumulation. In Mira-Bhayandar, the administration is now considering whether regulated changes to shed height can help address the problem without permitting uncontrolled construction.
The meeting was attended by Urban Development Department Additional Chief Secretary Asim Kumar Gupta, Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Commissioner Radha Binod Sharma, Thane district Industries Deputy Commissioner Sonali Deore, and office-bearers and representatives of the steel industrialists’ association. The next formal step is the preparation and publication of the preliminary proposal, after which public suggestions and objections will be invited.
