Alibag OG Pinakin and others unite to stop it from becoming another Mumbai

PATEL AND OTHER RESIDENTS WANT TO DRAW UP A ZONAL PLAN IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MMRDA

- Snehal Fernandes

MUMBAI: Twenty-five years ago, architect Pinakin Patel moved his home, workshop and studio to Alibag because of the "green life" the tiny coastal town in Raigad district offered. He says he had seen Juhu and Malabar Hill, the two places he has lived in the city "get ruined."

Now Patel is spearheading a campaign to stall a similar fate for Alibag. "When I moved to Alibag in 2000 and people asked me why I would tell them that Alibag was going to become the Hamptons of Mumbai with luxury homes, private villas, and a sort of country living. Instead, it threatens to turn into Mumbai's New Jersey," he says with a shudder.

Patel is referring to the infrastructure development that has made Alibag easily accessible for those in Mumbai -the RoRo facility, Atal Setu that connects Sewri to Nhava Seva, a new bridge from Nava to Rewas that is in the offing that will connect Mumbai to Alibag in 1 1/2 hours, the four-lane road that will connect Mandwa to Alibag and eventually Kashid which will scythe through thousands of trees.