State moves to monetise Worli Dairy

Mumbai's Worli sea face may become a premium commercial hub as the government plans to change the site's reservation from residential to commercial.

MUMBAI: The Worli sea face, among Mumbai’s priciest stretches of real estate, could host a premium commercial hub on the plot that houses the shuttered Worli Dairy. The plan, 18 months in the offing, has moved closer to becoming a reality with the state government issuing a notification on Thursday, announcing its intention to change the reservation of the 6.40-hectare property from “residential” to “commercial”.

State moves to monetise Worli Dairy

The notification was issued by the state urban development department (UDD), which will call for objections and suggestions before changing the reservation in the Development Control and Promotional Regulations (DCPR) 2034.

The plot, apart from housing the now defunct government-run dairy, also hosts the office of the dairy development commissioner and some residential quarters. It was classified as a “dairy” in a “residential zone” in the Development Plan of 1991.

However, the dairy was shut more than a decade ago, prompting the Uddhav Thackeray government to reimagine it as a tourist attraction. In March 2021, the Thackeray-led MVA government directed the BMC to change the reservation from “Dairy” to “Marine Research Institute, Aquarium, Exhibition Centre and government offices”. The notification signalling this change was issued by the UDD in February 2022.

Plans changed dramatically after the BJP-led Mahayuti government came to power. The state government received a letter on January 3, 2024, from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), urging the government to hand over the property to the government agency, to develop it as a mixed-use plot to generate employment opportunities. MMRDA urged the government to appoint it as the Special Planning Authority of this sprawling plot.

Granting the MMRDA’s request, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on April 7, 2025, that MMRDA would prepare Draft Planning Proposals for the Worli plot.

The state has now paved the way to monitise this prime Worli property by issuing the notification changing its reservation on Thursday. After the final order is issued, the plot can be leased to private entities for commercial use.

The Worli Dairy, one of three government-run dairies in Mumbai, is the latest to fall to the government’s development plans. The now defunct Kurla Dairy, which supplied milk to the eastern suburbs, will house slum residents shifted out of Dharavi in one of Mumbai’s largest redevelopment exercises led by Adani Realty.

The Aarey Dairy, which supplies milk to the western suburbs, has surrendered large tracts of land for various purposes such as a metro car shed and the Regional Transport Office. Now the Worli Dairy, which supplied milk to the island city, will be commercialised.

Worli resident and former IPS officer Y P Singh said it was against the law to develop a commercial complex on this land. “As per the provisions of Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019, Para 5.2 stipulates that ‘reconstruction of authorised buildings shall be permitted, without change in present land use’. Therefore, the attempt to convert the Worli Dairy plot into a commercial zone is a legal impossibility, unless the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019, is amended,’’ he said.

South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant (Sena UBT) alleged that the move is aimed at allowing its “favourite builders” to commercially exploit the prime plot. ‘Mumbai does not have an aquarium and we need one. Late chief minister Manohar Joshi wanted to have an oceanarium here,’’ he said.