In a setback to the former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, the Maharashtra government has suspended operations on two letters of intent issued to builders for slum redevelopment projects in Mumbai's suburbs.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told The Hindu on Thursday that he had suspended operations on these two projects approved under section 3 K of the Slum Act, which had several irregularities. The two projects are located in Malad and Chembur and envisage cluster development of 51.34 hectares in Malvani, Malad and 27.22 hectares in Chembur. While these two projects were approved in October last year, the letters of intent were issued on the last day of Mr. Ashok Chavan's tenure on November 11, 2010 and the approval letter bore the signature of at least seven officials on a single day.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya has filed a public interest litigation against six such projects approved under 3 K, five of them in the tenure of Mr. Ashok Chavan and one earlier when Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister. Mr. Somaiya had produced documents to prove that the two projects were given final approval on the day the new Chief Minister took over on November 11, 2010. He said there was no bidding, no transparency and the allotment was done based on a rarely used provision in the Slum Act — clause 3 (k), under which a builder who lays claims first to slum land can redevelop it. The danger in this is that the credentials of the builder are not verified and neither is consent of the people mandatory. Usually for redevelopment the builder has to obtain the consent of 70 per cent of the slum-dwellers.
Mr. Prithviraj Chavan said that the projects were envisaged as cluster development projects for townships. It could not be given to single builders as was the case. Moreover, the land allotted was 125 acres, in one case, more than the 100 acres which was set as a limit for the projects. It was strange that a concept for a township should be given to a single builder, the Chief Minister said. Mr. Chavan said he had inquired into the projects after the State Legislature session ended and decided to take action. The cluster development policy which was decided in 2008 has come up for criticism since it gave away land to private builders in the name of slum development.
Mr. Somaiya said that the Congress-led government had gifted away six slum redevelopment projects to builders in a dubious manner which could yield profits of over Rs. 50,000 crore once the projects came up.
Calling it the equivalent of the 2G scam in Maharashtra, Mr. Somaiya armed with 1000 pages of documents and proof, charged Mr. Ashok Chavan with gifting these six projects just before his tenure ended last year. The total area of six slum redevelopment projects was 235 lakh square feet and the land value was Rs. 6652 crore. The government has not only approved these projects but the builders have also paid up the premiums. One of the builders only had a paid-up capital of Rs. 15 lakh and yet it deposited Rs. 53 crore to the government once the project was approved, he said. Mr. Somaiya said the source of the money for these projects must be investigated.
