Salt Pans

Refer to the low lying marshy areas that abut the sea and were used for manufacturing of salt. These lands come under the control of an authority called Salt Commissioner.

In the city around 5500 acres of land has been demarcated as salt pans and as of now are designated as No Development Zones. Few of the major salt pan landholders are: Walawalkars who own 882 acres of land between Nahur and Mulund, Mahesh Garodia who owns 500 acres between Kanjurmarg and Bhandup, Fali Bomanjee's family holds 467 acres of land in Kanjurmarg, Bhandup and Nahur. Sunil Majithia owns 180 acres at Trombay and Lalit Gandhi of Lok Group holds 178 acres in Makhurd.

In 1938 the British brought the production of salt under a system of licensing under which illicit manufacture was penalised. They also abolished transit duties levied previously and introduced a regular excise duty at a fixed rate of Rs. 13-9 per ton (Be. 0-8-0 per maund) on the production. The salt factories in Bombay were laid out either on Inami lands, owned by the manufacturers or on Government lands leased to private individuals for periods up to 99 years on payment of a small rental. There were also some factories which though owned by Government are leased to private parties for` periods ranging from 1 to 5 years on a rental which was fixed by tenders. In addition to the rent they also payed a ground rent which was based on the quantity of salt produced. The private owners often leased out their factories to others for periods ranging from 1 to 3 years on a rental basis.