The Maharashtra government plans to turn the 14.5 acre Worli Dairy property into a marine research centre, an aquarium, and an exhibition centre soon. The land reservation is believed to have been changed by CM Uddhav Thackeray's order to the urban development department. The plan calls for an 11 acre section of the complex to be set aside for new public amenities, including an aquarium. The dairy commissioner's office will keep the rest of the property, while the dairy will relocate to Kurla. The state's animal husbandry department, which is controlled by Congress, had opposed the dairy operation's relocation. Aditya Thackeray's assembly constituency includes the land. Once a formal decision is made to change the land reservation, the state government will hand over the land to either the BMC or the tourism department. State finance minister Ajit Pawar announced the project on the Worli Dairyland in his budget speech in March 2020, just before the pandemic lockdown began. Pawar said that the goal was to attract both domestic and international visitors. For its prime location on Worli Sea Face, the property has attracted several developers over the years. Because of its size and location, real estate is worth thousands of crores. The government is said to have considered selling the land to raise money for metro projects at one point. In Kurla and Goregaon, the dairy department owns large tracts of land. Last year, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) announced that a 25-acre plot in Kurla, which once housed a Mother Dairy complex, would be taken over for commercial exploitation. MMRDA intended to sell the land to raise money for metro projects. The land is managed by the department of animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries of the state government. MMRDA was given 10,000 sq m or 2.5 acres of dairyland in exchange for a viaduct and station on the upcoming Metro 2B line. MMRDA will revive and revamp the dairy, which was shut down a few decades ago. MMRDA will construct a residential building for dairy workers. The Worli Dairy was established in 1961 at a cost of over Rs 4 crore, with UNICEF contributing Rs 80 lakh. Vijayalaxmi Pandit, Maharashtra's governor at the time, opened the dairy. Image Source