Mumbai: State fails to protect Aarey, opens salt pan land for development

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Metro car shed, resettlements for adivasis, and an open zoo. This is how much concretisation Aarey colony will undergo, as per the new DP, and the rest of it will be marked as a green zone. The state government has yet again failed to protect Aarey colony.

Besides this, 330 hectares of salt pan land, which was under the no-development zone (NDZ) in the 1991 DP, will be opened up for the affordable housing project, which is aimed at building 10 lakh homes. For this, owners of 2,100 hectares of special development zones, earlier NDZs, are expected to come forward with construction proposals.

Despite criticism, the state has claimed the hectares being taken for the project are out of natural areas. Principal Secretary of UDD Nitin Kareer said, "The city lacks enough space for development; more is required, which will come through opening up of NDZs. This is being done to ensure affordable homes."

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