After the battle of 300 errors, Mumbai to get its development plan

One of the major changes the state government is introducing is including walls in the carpet area. Representation pic

Despite going through several filtration processes for over three years, the Development Plan (DP) 2034 will see correction of 300-odd errors, this time to be done by the state. This is owing to BMC's clerical errors in draft DP 2034 - wrongly named roads and wrongly colour-coded lines on the DP maps, among others.

Sources also revealed that the state will give more importance to affordable housing while sanctioning the DP 2034, to boost its vote bank ahead of the elections next year. The BMC had opened up No-Development Zones for development in the name of affordable housing, which were then classified as Special Development Zones I and II by the planning committee appointed by the state to carry out public hearing for objections and suggestions. The committee had suggested increase in percentage of share for affordable housing. To strengthen BJP's agenda of affordable housing, more area is likely to be reserved for affordable homes, said sources.

Citizens will have a voice
A senior civic official said, "The errors have been taken care of, and wherever reservations have changed or new ones have come up, citizens will get a chance to raise their concerns. The state government will put the changes in the public domain before implementing the sanctioned DP, and if affordable housing was not present at a plot earlier and has now been marked there, citizens can approach the town planners about it. "Earlier this month, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the open spaces in the DP will be untouched; thus, there is no question of reduction in open spaces. In fact, there could be a miniscule increase."

Changes in carpet area
One of the changes made by the state government is revising the definition of 'carpet area', which will now also include walls, in alignment with RERA. However, rehabilitation houses will be left out of this and will continue with the old definition of 1991 Development Control Regulations (DCR). Another change in the DCR is the regularisation of violations carried out in buildings. But for under-construction buildings and those without Occupancy Certificate, the DCR will have a migration policy to use higher FSI, by just submitting a fresh proposal, according to the new DCR 2034.

Civic sources revealed that work on DCR 2034 is almost complete, and DP 2034 is under scrutiny by the town planning authority that operates from Pune. Despite repeated attempts to contact Sanjay Darade, chief engineer of the Development Planning department of BMC, he remained unavailable.

Also Read: Maharashtra Government To Sanction New Development Plan Before March 31

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