After receiving flak from the citizens over an erroneous ‘Development Plan’ (DP) for Mumbai, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced the scrapping of the existing plan, asking the Mumbai Municipality to submit a fresh proposal in the next four months.
The controversial DP- 2034 was prepared by the administration of Sena- BJP ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and published for suggestions and modifications from citizens. However, closer scrutiny of the plan by a number of private organisations and political parties had revealed that the plan had serious lacunae. The errors in the DP range from showing mangroves in the city as residential zone to art gallery land reserved for hospital.
“After BMC makes the new DP, it will be floated out to seek suggestions and objections from the citizens,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the portfolio of Urban Development Department.
Interestingly, the BMC in the last few weeks had received around 25,000 objections against the DP. The discontent over the DP was such that Mr. Fadnavis had to announce a special committee, headed by Chief Secretary to scrutinise the plan, during the recently-held Assembly session.
A new DP will now be prepared in the next four months and stricter among the two will prevail during this period. Following its submission, the draft will be again open for suggestions for 60 days, after which the decision on whether to accept or discard it will have to be taken in maximum two years.
The BMC, with an annual budget of over Rs. 28,000 crore, will go to the polls in 2017. A senior government functionary said that no party, especially the ruling BJP-Sena, can afford to go to people with such an erroneous DP. Almost proving the point, all political parties on Tuesday jumped at the opportunity to claim credit.
