Why was car shed land not marked as forest, asks Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde

Because it is not in the core forest zone, says Shinde, justifying the need for the Aarey plot for Metro-3; asks BMC to postpone property tax hike by a year

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reiterated on Thursday that the Aarey site was perfect for the Metro-3 car depot, because not only his government thought so but because the previous governments knew its suitability to dedicate the project to the commuters at the earliest.

He told the Assembly that the politicians in the Maha Vikas Aghadi were also aware of the feasibility and all other better aspects of the Aarey land, but he chose to not comment on it further. However, he had a question for the powers that be in the MVA: “Why was the car depot land not included in the forest area that was notified by the previous [Thackeray] government?”

“The said land is not in the core forest area. It has three roads in its vicinity. Earlier, plots bigger than the car depot land have been allotted for many projects,” he said, recalling the inception of Metro-3 in the Prithviraj Chavan government, the approvals and the further progress the project made in the Devendra Fadnavis government before it was stalled by the Uddhav Thackeray-led one. He justified the shifting of the site to Aarey from Kanjurmarg.

Also read: Ahead of Ganeshotsav, BMC starts fixing Aarey Milk Colony’s pothole-ridden roads

Shinde was replying during the debate on the preference for the Aarey site over Kanjurmarg, which was part of the Opposition’s last week resolution. “The other investors like JICA [the Japanese lender] and the Centre were not taken into confidence before shifting the car shed to Kanjurmarg. It would have led to further litigation,” he added.

No property tax hike this year

Ahead of the civic election, Shinde announced that the BMC won’t raise property tax this year. He said the city MLAs had demanded relief for the residents as the BMC proposed a 16 to 20 per cent jump. “The hike was postponed for two years during the pandemic. I have asked the BMC to delay it further by a year,” he said, adding that the property tax rates are revised every five years.

Good news for Ulhasnagar

In view of the poor response to the 17-year-old scheme to regularise unauthorised structures in Ulhasnagar, the government has extended eligibility to the structures that have been there till March 31, 2021. The premium rates have been revised to Rs 220/sq ft from Rs 1,500/sq ft. The other perks like ancillary and incentive FSI have been revised as per the recommendations of a high-power committee of bureaucrats.

20
percentage of property tax hike proposed by BMC

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