Deadline over, but you can send in comments for Development Plan

The civic body has received close to 510 observations.

Even though the last date for submitting suggestions and objections for the Designation Survey 2034 report, published by the Mumbai civic authority in a bid to revise the city’s Development Plan (2014-2034) is over, the citizens of Mumbai can still send in their observations.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday announced that the process of receiving observations will continue till the release of the draft DP and those which qualify on merit will be incorporated into the report. The civic body has received close to 510 comments.

After the public outcry against the draft DP released in February 2015, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered the BMC to review errors in the Mumbai Development Plan (2014-2034). A review committee was then set up with the mandate of rectifying errors in the draft DP. After eight months, the MCGM has released a ‘designation survey’ for public suggestions. Following it, the reports on roads, DCR rules, and reservations will be released before the final report.

However, the glitches that forced the government to retract the earlier DP seem to have continued in the survey as well. From designations being marked wrongly to not mapping existing amenities on private land the list continues to grow every day.

“Through the analysis we have found this exercise to be conceptually flawed. While this survey was mandated to be an error correction of the draft DP released earlier this year (essentially correcting the existing land use plan) it has gone back to the 1991 DP and reinstated reservations made 25 years ago,” said Marina Joseph of Hamara Shehar Mumbai Abhiyan, a group of urban planners, architects, and activists.

One of the many objections against the survey include marking playgrounds, parks, and grounds being marked as recreational ground, threatening the open spaces in the city. While it does not map existing amenities on private land, it has included these amenities within the ‘surrounding zone of commercial residential (CR) and residential commercial (RC)”. A number of objections have recorded over 626 instances where designations are wrongly marked.

Despite repeated requests, slum clusters have not been surveyed under this Designation Survey. “We reiterate our demand that all slums be mapped as land for public housing, a category that was in existence in the DP 1991 and has been withdrawn in this DP,” said Sitaram Shelar of Yuva, which has also sent its suggestions for the survey.

The activists have also pointed out that despite numerous suggestions and objections sent by people earlier this year addressing many of the missed amenities, those have not been addressed in this massive correction exercise. “We demand that the list of suggestions and objections sent by people be made public,” said Mr. Shelar.