Residents of Nehru Nagar in Kurla East who started a citizen movement they terming ‘Lok Chalwal’ to reserve the old Kurla government milk dairy land for a garden and recreation ground to maintain greenery and have an open space in the area on Thursday received support from Varsha Gaikwad, sitting Dharavi MLA and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate for Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North Central constituency. mid-day highlighted the issue in February 2024, of how Kurla residents had started a citizen movement by beginning a WhatsApp group, door-to-door campaign and signature drive. The subject gained immediate traction as the group had 800 members within a week’s time.

The 10.4-hectare piece of land earlier used by the government milk dairy at Nehru Nagar, Kurla, has been lying unused after the dairy shut down nearly a decade ago. The land is placed strategically, sandwiched along the Santacruz Chembur Link Road, LTT Kurla Terminus, Mumbai Metro Yellow Line 2B and the Harbour Line of the suburban railway network. State government officials had said at an MMRDA meeting in December 2023 that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had appointed MMRDA as the special planning authority for the dairy land development at Kurla and Worli. Sources said MMRDA is looking to monetise the land to finance infra projects by building a mixed-use mini-BKC development plan of residential and commercial complexes at the site.