Shiv Sena: Government made 373 secret changes to Development Plan

A fuming Dilip Lande chairman of the BMCs 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 2511 suggestions were sent to the state of which 866 were approved and changes made to 1645 However during a presentation on September 5 the number of changes went up to 2018The BMCs Improvements Committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Dilip Lande has alleged that while finalising the muchawaited DP of the city the state government has added 373 suggestions which were not mentioned earlierLande 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 2511 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 1645 suggestionsThe sanctioned part of the Development Plan includes 300 acres of Central Park at Cuffe Parade and the Metro car shed in Aarey Representation PicLande said The State governments Urban Development Department has done changes in the remaining 1645 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 states action on DP I got to know that instead of 1645 changes the state has called suggestions and objections on 2018 changes There is an increase of 373 changesThe 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 orleader has suggested these changesNew presentationLande 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 thisA senior civic official from the BMCs 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 2884 changes that have been marked in the EP and it was opened for public suggestions and objectionsThe sanctioned part of the DP includes 300 acres of Central Park at Cuffe Parade and the Metro car shedin 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 nondevelopment zoneDid you knowThe Improvements Committee is a statutory body of the BMC that looks after land and development plan related issues of the cityThe DP is Mumbais blueprint for existing land use and development in the city over the next 20 yearsThe other sideUrban 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 50odd changes were related to open space reservations said KareerWe 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 peoples 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 governments policy is to keep everything transparent he addedAlso ReadMumbai Mulund society sees red over green marking in Development PlanCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates