Shiv Sena: Government made 373 secret changes to Development Plan

The DP is Mumbai's blueprint for existing land use and development in the city over the next 20 years. representation pic

A fuming Dilip Lande, chairman of the BMC's Improvements Committee, has hit out at the state government over the 'sudden' inclusion of 373 suggestions to the Development Plan (2034). According to Lande, a list of 2,511 suggestions were sent to the state, of which 866 were approved and changes made to 1,645. However, during a presentation on September 5, the number of changes went up to 2,018.

The BMC's Improvements Committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Dilip Lande has alleged that while finalising the much-awaited DP of the city, the state government has added 373 suggestions, which were not mentioned earlier.

Lande claims that it is a scam, as on July 31, 2017, after lengthy discussions with corporators in the civic house and the Planning Committee, a list of 2,511 suggestions, in the revised draft DP (2034), were sent to the state. The state government then approved 866 suggestions but had added changes in the remaining 1,645 suggestions.

The sanctioned part of the Development Plan includes 300 acres of Central Park at Cuffe Parade and the Metro car shed in Aarey. Representation Pic

Lande said, "The State government's Urban Development Department has done changes in the remaining 1,645 suggestions and following the procedure they have invited suggestions and objections from the public. However, recently when there was a presentation before the Improvements Committee about the state's action on DP, I got to know that instead of 1,645 changes the state has called suggestions and objections on 2,018 changes. There is an increase of 373 changes."

The issue was raised on September 5 during the Improvements Committee meeting. He added, "The state has not given any details on where these changes came from. It could be a scam, as there is no information on these changes. Urban Development Department should tell us which developer, political party or leader has suggested these changes."

New presentation
Lande has demanded a presentation on these new 373 changes. "In the next 15 days, the state government should give a detailed presentation on these new additions. People should be made aware for whose benefit these changes were added. These should be an inquiry on this."

A senior civic official from the BMC's DP department said, "The DP was divided into two parts, one is a sanctioned part, which was notified by the state government in May 2018. The other is excluded part (EP), which includes all substantial changes that have been made to the plan by the government after it was submitted by the civic body. There are total 2,884 changes that have been marked in the EP and it was opened for public suggestions and objections."

The sanctioned part of the DP includes 300 acres of Central Park at Cuffe Parade and the Metro car shed in Aarey. However, there is not clarity on the EP, which includes important issues like increase in FSI (Floor Space Index), affordable housing on salt pan land and the non-development zone.

Did you know?
The Improvements Committee is a statutory body of the BMC that looks after land and development plan related issues of the city. The DP is Mumbai's blueprint for existing land use and development in the city over the next 20 years.

The other side
Urban Development Department secretary, Nitin Kareer has rubbished the allegation. He said that all the changes added in DP were open for public scrutiny. "The claims of 373 changes in the DP by the government is not true. It is not correct to say that the government has done so many changes suo moto. And most of these changes are pertaining to errors and corrections. The total number of changes at the government level would not be more than 65, of which 50-odd changes were related to open space reservations, "said Kareer.

"We have reversed the 50 changes suggested by the BMC to save the open spaces that were in the earlier 1991 DP but it was made open to development activity in the proposed 2034 DP. And the other 15 changes are based on people's objections, which were not considered by the civic general body and planning committee. We just maintained its status quo by keeping it as open space. At the government level there is a committee that goes through all the changes that are proposed. The government's policy is to keep everything transparent," he added.

Also Read: Mumbai: Mulund society sees red over green marking in Development Plan

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