MUMBAI, JULY 21 Two of Maharashtra’s most prominent politicians—both belonging to a party that has traditionally opposed sale of defunct mill land—today clinched a record deal for a five-acre mill land plot located opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan in central Mumbai.

The winning bid for National Textile Corporation’s (NTC) Kohinoor Mill No 3 at Dadar was made by developers closely associated with Sena leaders Manohar Joshi and Raj Thackeray.

With an offer of Rs 421 crore, Matoshree Realty (in which Raj Thackeray is a director) and the Kohinoor Group (Joshi’s son Umesh Joshi heads the firm) surpassed competing bids from Varun Industries (Rs 411.11 cr) and Aakruti Nirman (Rs 375 cr). It amounted to paying Rs 14,813 per square foot for undeveloped land.

The deal immediately br ought the Sena’s politics into question considering the party has attacked the government saying Vilasrao Deshmukh’s policy to allow the sale of Mumbai’s 600 acres of erstwhile mill land favoured developers’ interests over that of the city.

Today, ‘the city’s interest’—or even that of the Marathi manoos who battles unemployment while Mumbai’s historical working class district metamorphoses into an upscale land of malls and luxury apartments—was far from Matoshree Realty MD Rajan Shirodkar’s mind.

Shirodkar, a longtime business aide of Raj Thackeray, justified the high price his firm paid for the Kohinoor plot—Rs 80 crore per acre, which outdoes June’s sky-high Rs 702 crore bid for NTC’s 17-acre Mumbai Mill—saying returns would compensate.

‘‘We will build an exclusive shopping complex, residences or perhaps hotel apartments. I’m looking at a 14-month deadline. I don’t know what statements are made in the assembly.’’

Raj Thackeray meanwhile refused to comment on how he reconciled his company’s bid for the mill with his party’s opposition to the private development of mill lands.

Party colleague Manohar Joshi also distanced himself from his company’s joint bid with the glib defence: ‘‘My son Umesh handles everything.’’ He was closely echoing South Mumbai’s crorepati BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha whose Lodha Builders had won development rights for the private Shreeniwas Mill in March. Lodha said the city’s interests must be protected but argued that his son ran the company.

Ironically, as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister in 1995, Joshi had commissioned a masterplan by a team of planners under noted architect Charles Correa for the holistic development of 600 acres of land in central Mumbai on which 58 cotton mills are located.

The plan drawing up new transport arteries and recommending large allocations for public amenities never saw the light of day. In 2001, the law regulating mill land development was tweaked by CM and Urban Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in favour of mill owners. The results are seen in the current real estate activity across Mumbai’s millscape with development profits modestly estimated at Rs 20,000 crore.

But in the process, allege planners and city NGOs, Deshmukh’s tweak has meant about 400 acres taken away from the city’s civic corporation and development authorities, which may have been used for desperately needed public amenities and low-cost housing. From August 2, the Bombay High Court will hear a PIL on the matter.

Meanwhile, NTC’s other mill, Parel’s 7.8 acre Elphinstone Mill, today received a winning bid of Rs 441.7 crore from the Delhi-based brokerage IndiaBulls.

The same firm had made a successful Rs 276-crore bid in March for NTC’s Jupiter Mill, but it will not be able to pick up the property right away since the mill’s 1983 nationalisation is being challenged in court.

Company officials were reluctant to part with information regarding their development plans.

As with NTC’s previous three mills that have fetched Rs 1158 crore over the past three months, today’s bids have also outshot the corporation’s internal estimated proceeds towards revival accruing from the sale of its properties.

The corporation’s Rehabilitation Scheme submitted to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction valued Elphinstone at Rs 80 crore (roughly Rs 10 crore per acre) and its 3 Kohinoor Mills—amounting to 27 acres—at a cumulative Rs 286 crore.

When asked about alleged malpractices in the sale process, Chairman and Managing Director K Ramachandran Pillai said: ‘‘We have been selling surplus mill lands in different parts of the country and all transactions are clean and transparent.”

High stakes for ex-CM  

• Former Lok Sabha Speaker and CM, Manohar Joshi started out with coaching classes and training centres. He has now diversified into hotels and real estate. According to the affidavit he submitted in the last general elections, his networth is Rs 4.2 crore. Assets include: INVESTMENTS: Rs. 8.60 lakh (from shares of Hotel Airport Kohinoor, Anagha Hotels, Kohinoor Planet Constructions, Kohinoor Technical Institute) REAL ESTATE: Three buildings (Rs. 1.29 cr), five flats of 28,977 sq.mts (Rs. 1.35 cr).

From rebel to realtor Firebrand leader of a party that has opposed sale of mill land, saying it goes against the interests of the city. Started a real estate business venture called Matoshree Realtors 10 years back in partnership with Rajan Shirodkar. Has completed over 30 projects, mainly in Dadar, Matunga and Vile Parle. Currently involved in five projects including a 100-flat residential complex in Mulund. His most publicised venture, Shiv Udyog Sena, is a charitable trust which said it would provide employment and entrepreneurial opportunities to ‘sons of the soil’. Not heard of lately.