Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Ajoy Mehta on Friday emphasised the changing face of governance, being driven by technology, to provide predictable civic services while arguing for more involvement of academia through ideas for improving the quality of living in urban centres.
Mr. Mehta was delivering the keynote address on Re-imagining Civic Governance, at the release of a report on students’ suggestions for the Revised Draft Development Plan (RDDP) 2014-2034 and felicitate winning students. The event was jointly organised by the BMC and the Observer Research Foundation.
“Services are now a right as per the Right to Services Act. As per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, there are mandatory duties and services that is prescribed that the BMC has to follow. BMC-run hospitals are now into providing medical facilities and assistance even in secondary and tertiary healthcare sectors. The BMC has spent ₹3,500 crore on tertiary health services,” Mr. Mehta said.
Rupa D’Souza was among one of the students whose idea has been incorporated into the RDDP 2014-2034. Elaborating on Ms. D’Souza’s suggestion, the civic chief said, “The BMC charges for Land Under Construction (LUC) and when certain permissions like the Intimation of Disapproval and Commencement Certificates are issued to the developer requiring him to pay tax that is seven times higher than what he would have paid after the residential flats were constructed. Builders often circumvented this law by building flats and keeping them locked up for long.
“We will amend this so that the developers would have to pay a civic levy for all vacant flats held. Housing is a crucial element that has to be managed and we are glad to take the suggestion from the student for Mumbai city’s betterment.”
Another student’s idea incorporated into the RDDP 2014-2034 relates to the Recreation Grounds (RG) and Play Grounds (PG). “Berjis Driver is responsible for this. Till now, some construction activity or the other was permitted even for RG and PG development. Now any development of RG and PG would ensure that the open space remains open.”
“The only construction that would be allowed on the land would be for constructing a toilet or watchman’s shed and this input sought from academia has been written into law,” Mr. Mehta said. A suggestion from Darpana Bhagat, a student of Mumbai University, will result in the setting up of a ‘Textile Museum’ in Mumbai city.
The chief architect of the Draft DP (2014-2034), Dr. Ramanath Jha pointed out to the ‘Inattentive Blindness’ that plagues urban landscapes. “Theories and academic participation in governance is absent. We are missing a great opportunity in India. BMC has become the first urban body to take forward the engagement with students and academia through an agreement with the Mumbai University for the engagement of interns for city planning and development,” he said.
