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The Union Ministry of Defence has issued a fresh notification easing decades-old construction restrictions around the Signal Transmitting Station, known as the Wireless Centre, in Juhu, Mumbai. The notification, issued on 3 August 2026, withdraws the nearly 50-year-old SRO 150 and replaces it with SRO 33(E), cutting the restricted no-construction zone from 500 metres to 100 metres around the installation. The move is expected to benefit thousands of residents living in nearly 200 ageing buildings and dense slum clusters in the area, many of which are over 75 years old. Mumbai North West MP Ravindra Waikar had pursued the matter with the Centre and state government over several months.
The Union Ministry of Defence has eased long-standing construction restrictions around the Signal Transmitting Station, also known as the Wireless Centre, in Juhu, Mumbai, clearing the way for redevelopment of buildings and slum settlements located beyond a revised 100-metre restricted zone around the installation.
The Defence Ministry issued the notification through a Gazette Notification dated 3 August 2026, withdrawing the nearly 50-year-old restriction known as SRO 150 and replacing it with a new notification, SRO 33(E). The earlier restriction had barred construction within 500 metres of the wireless station, a limit that had affected several residential properties in the surrounding area for decades. Under the revised notification, the restricted zone has been reduced to 100 metres, allowing redevelopment activity to proceed for structures situated beyond this limit.
The restrictions had originally been imposed under the Defence Works Act, 1903, given the presence of the Signal Transmitting Station, a defence communication installation, in the vicinity. The prolonged restrictions had left redevelopment of ageing buildings and slum clusters in the Juhu area stalled for an extended period, with many structures remaining in a dilapidated condition as a result.
According to the report, the move is expected to benefit thousands of residents living in close to 200 ageing buildings and densely populated slum clusters in the Juhu locality, a significant number of which are more than 75 years old. With redevelopment restrictions having remained in place for decades, many of these structures had continued to deteriorate without any clear pathway for reconstruction or rehabilitation.
Mumbai North West MP Ravindra Waikar had persistently pursued the matter with both the central and state governments over an extended period. He raised the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377 on 18 December 2025, highlighting the hardships faced by residents living in the affected buildings. Waikar also held discussions with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter and separately wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, seeking their intervention to help resolve the long-pending issue.
The Juhu Wireless Affected Residents Association had also taken up the matter, submitting a memorandum to the local MP demanding changes to the existing restrictions to enable redevelopment. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav had responded in writing to the matter on 20 January 2026, as the issue continued to be pursued through multiple channels over recent months.
With the new notification now in force, redevelopment of unsafe and ageing buildings located beyond the revised 100-metre restricted zone can proceed, a development expected to pave the way for safer housing and improved living conditions for a significant section of residents in the Juhu locality.
The report did not specify the number of individual redevelopment proposals expected to be unlocked by the revised notification, nor did it provide details of any further regulatory clearances that affected buildings and societies may still be required to obtain before construction can begin.
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