A look at the history of Navi Mumbai (New Bombay) reveals that it was created as a TWIN CITY of Mumbai to decongest Mumbai.

The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act was passed in 1966. The Bombay Metropolitan Region was notified in June 1967 and a Regional Planning Board constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri L.G. Rajwade, I.C.S. The Draft Regional Plan of the Board, finalized in January, 1970, proposed the development of a twin city across the harbour, on the mainland to the east, as a counter-magnet to the office concentration taking place at the southern tip of Bombay.

The plan and design of the city of Navi Mumbai (formerly known as New Bombay) was initiated as a result of the increasing congestion of Mumbai which had grown manifold by the 70s making it impossible to accommodate any more people. Hence, Navi Mumbai was built as a twin city of Mumbai so that its population could be managed as Mumbai, composed of seven islands, had major limitations with respect to physical expansion.

CIDCO, formed in 1971 for development & maintenance of Navi Mumbai, made 14 nodes (townships) to give shape to Navi Mumbai.

Thus, Navi Mumbai was planned to create affordable housing for people, working in Mumbai but could not afford living in Mumbai. As a result, the main activities remained in Mumbai but the back bone (work force) was migrated to Navi Mumbai. Perfect infrastructure, like local trains, roads, highways, bridges, water transport etc. were provided to connect both the cities so as to make it convenient for the commuters to move between the two TWIN CITIES to attend to their official work in Mumbai. It was ensured, while developing Navi Mumbai, that it has all the basic needs like hospitals, schools, colleges,  markets, commercial establishments, banks, play grounds, stadium, clubs etc. so as to provide excellent living conditions.

The fact that wholesale market was shifted to APMC, a major part of seaport facilities were shifted from Mumbai Port to Jawaharlal Nehru Port and now International Airport is in the plans, are few examples which clearly corroborate the intentions of the government and planners to treat the twin cities as ONE. The aim was to decongest Mumbai and share the load with Navi Mumbai. While majority of the offices continue to remain in Mumbai, the work force stays in Navi Mumbai and travels to Mumbai everyday. Thus, Navi Mumbai is nothing else but extended Mumbai.

In 1990s, Government and CIDCO did their best to woo Mumbaikars to shift to Navi Mumbai by announcing various incentives…and people did shift in millions.

However, while doing this, the government did a differentiation…viz. discriminating the population of Navi Mumbai with that of Mumbai by way of Toll Barriers. The government told Navi Mumbaikars that they helped Mumbai by shifting their residences to Navi Mumbai but now whenever they enter Mumbai, the government will penalise them. Poor fellows, each time when they enter Mumbai for their official work, whether by rail or road, pay a penalty (by way of Toll) to the government for having co-operated in the past and for entering Mumbai now.

Thus, the Government, which earlier declared that Navi Mumbai is going to be a twin city…an extended Mumbai, is now treating Navi Mumbai as a STEP CITY.

There is no reason why the toll should be recovered from Navi Mumbaikars for entering Mumbai. For all practical purposes, we all were part of Mumbai and continue to be part of Mumbai, still contributing to its day-to-day operations and its development. This recovery of toll, at a point lying between Mumbai & Navi Mumbai, is not at all justified.

Our plea is that for the recovery of Toll, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai should be treated as ONE CITY only as envisaged in the original plans and there should not be any disseverance between the two TWIN CITIES. The toll booths may be shifted to where ever the government deems fit but certainly not between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

PLEASE DON’T TREAT NAVI MUMBAI AS A STEP CITY.