Central Railway clears water bills, gets BMC nod for posh officers' tower in return

Almost two years after it completed a plush 12-storey tower for its officials in Byculla, the Central Railway is in a position to put the apartments to good use. It has managed to get the all-important occupation certificate (OC) from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The high-rise at CR's Nirmal Park enclave has 24 flats, each a 3-BHK measuring 2,000 sqft. The CR has spent Rs15 crore on the construction.

In October 2013, CR had obtained the fire safety certificate, but could not allot the flat to its officials as the BMC had made it clear that the OC would be given only when the railways coughed up some of the long-pending water bills. dna had front-paged the tussle in its November 7, 2013 edition.

In this stand-off, it seems, the railways has blinked first. According to BMC officials, CR paid around Rs7 crore towards outstanding water bills a couple of days ago. Earlier in March, CR had paid nearly Rs6 crore, said BMC sources. The total water bills that CR has to pay BMC, as per the latter's calculations, are in the range of Rs 110 crore.

These figures, railway officials said, are always contentious as an entire set of legalities have to be considered while calculating these amounts. The water bill fight between the civic body and the railways stems from a 2002 government order which states that even central government agencies like the railways will have to pay the local civic body service tax for water and sewerage. While the BMC contends that these bills will have to be paid with the accruing interest, the railways maintain that being a government agency engaged in essential work, such bills or interest does not apply to them.

It is not the first time the railways and BMC have locked horns over the posh residential complexes coming up in the sprawling Nirmal Park enclave. Earlier, two towers, identical to the one in question, were caught in a fight between 2006 and 2011. The stalemate arose after the BEST asked for 451 square metres of land inside the enclave to build a power sub-station to supply electricity to the towers. Initially the CR was not keen to part with the land, but it did so after several rounds of lengthy discussions.