Mumbai: The State Cabinet has appointed a sub-committee to penalise illegal buildings and curb their proliferation in urban areas. The sub-committee headed by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat will submit its report within three months, officials said.
An earlier committee headed by IAS officer Sitaram Kunte had proposed charging twice the assessed value of the unauthorised building as penalty. However, certain municipalities turned down the proposal saying the penalty was too ‘low’ to act as a deterrent. Members on the Kunte committee, which included Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, had pointed out the need for a regional plan for individual districts. Recently, the government cleared an integrated development plan for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Senior officials said the Bapat committee has been tasked with not only revising the penalty but also framing a comprehensive regularisation policy. The State had framed a regularisation policy 10 years ago when mass demolitions in Ulhasnagar, where 6,000 buildings were declared illegal, led to unrest. Officials, however, say only 100 structures have been regularised so far.
As a member of the Opposition, Mr. Bapat had demanded that the government impose heavy penalties on developers and officials found guilty of allowing unauthorised construction, and regularise thousands of illegal buildings in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
