Mumbai: At first glance, the draft development plan (2014-2034) for Mumbai seems noble.

No one disputes that the street network of India’s commercial hub is old and narrow. On-street parking has further reduced its capacity. Inadequate footpaths and encroachment has forced pedestrians on to streets. So, draft proposed new and widened roads to boost capacity.

However, many of these proposed roads are shown cleaving through heritage church properties, splitting housing societies, or barreling through heritage precincts that have citizens up in arms.

The Times of India has highlighted several instances, such as a road passing through the St John the Evangelist Church in Marol and Shree Ram society on S V Road in Andheri (West). The society formed before Independence has some 150-odd trees. Many of them would disappear if a public road the draft proposes materializes. In Marol, the proposed widening of a road would affect the church ground and another school.

Many gaothans or village sites, dominated by East Indians, the original inhabitants of the land, are angry that several road widening proposals are shown cutting through parts of their cottages and ancestral religious crosses. In Marol Gaothan, the residents are further upset because their houses are seen in the City Survey Map and yet the authorities plan to carve up their homes.

Similar is the plight of the three-century-old Pali Gaothan. Neil Pereira, a third-generation resident, said a road widening has been proposed between Dr Ambedkar Road and 16th Road, Bandra. “This road passes through Pali Gaothan, meaning it would cut through cottages. We do not want wide roads as it could encourage commercial activities.”

A playground within Manish Nagar at Andheri off J P Road might be lost as a road has been proposed through it. Ashoke Pandit from NGO Save Open Spaces said it is the only open space for over a hundred buildings in the area.

Activist-architect P K Das said such new roads proposed without due thought jolt community life. “A road has been proposed passing through both sides of Irla nullah as well, supposed to be mandatory open space. It is to be developed as a walking/cycling track. Development does not mean bulldozing what exists,” said Das.