Devendra Fadnavis promises probe in textile mills redevelopment

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

On day 2 of the budget session, the BJP government promised to dig out irregularities committed in redevelopment of textile mills in Mumbai. CM Devendra Fadnavis made an announcement to this effect yesterday, following a calling attention notice on a fire that burnt down two pubs and killed a dozen patrons last December. Inquiries have established irregularities in Kamala Mills compound. The accused in the case, including owners of the Mills and promoters of the ill-fated pubs, are being probed for irregularities. Following the incident, a wider probe is being demanded in all mills that shut and then were opened up for redevelopment. The policy was tweaked when the Congress-NCP was in power.'

Fadnavis said the land use of all mills where commercial establishments and residential towers stand will be probed by a high-powered committee of a retired Bombay High Court judge and former secretary of the Urban Development Department or town planner or architect. He added the HC had given the government a directive to constitute such a committee. Fadnavis's response came after a question was raised by BJP legislator Atul Bhatkalkar. The CM said the 1999 policy stipulated a land-sharing formula under which 30 per cent each of the total space was to be given to the MHADA, the BMC and the developer (owner). However, the policy was changed in 2001, and the distribution formula was restricted to open space available instead of total land space of the textile mill.

"This policy revision denied MHADA land for constructing houses for mill workers. The government will probe this. We will also inquire into the violation of the IT clause that allowed construction for IT companies. We will recover the cost of misused land space from the people who committed such irregularities," Fadnavis said. He added that the BMC had started a drive to find out irregularities across the city. "Every restaurant and hotel has been audited for fire safety," he said. BJP's Ashish Shelar and Yogesh Sagar, Shiv Sean's Sunil Prabhu and AIMIM's Waris Pathan took part in the debate.

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