Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated that the Draft Development Plan (DDP) for Palghar, submitted to the government for approval, could be revised if farmers in eight villages are likely to lose their fertile land.
Farmers from these Palghar villages are likely to lose their farms, as most of their land has been either marked as reserved plots or set aside for roads in the DDP, first prepared in 2011.
The DDP, which was forwarded to the CM for final approval in January 2016, consists a chunk of private land, mostly fields, marked as reserved plots. While 131.90 hectares of private land is reserved for gardens, schools, playgrounds and hospitals, only 76.52 hectares of government land has been reserved. The DDP was first published in March 2013, 17 years after the Palghar Municipal Council was formed. It was published with changes in January 2015 by the Director, Town Planning, Pune and was submitted to the government for approval, which is pending.
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The assurance from the CM came after political leaders from across parties met him to discuss the issue on Friday. The delegation, led by Palghar MLAs Amit Ghoda and Hitendra Thakur, Dahanu MLA Paskal Dhanare, Boisar MLA Vilas Tare, BJP MP Chintaman Wanga and BJP’s Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Sawra, who is also the Guardian Minister for Palghar, highlighted the incorrect data in the revised DDP. They were accompanied by members of the Prarup Vikas Arakhada Virodhi Sangharsha Samiti, led by Ramakant Patil.
Mr. Patil, convenor of the Sangharsha Samiti, which was formed to oppose the DDP in the current form, said only land belonging to farmers has been taken into consideration for the DDP, and the huge tracts of land belonging to the builders have been spared.
“The Existing Land Use Map (ELUP), which was prepared in 2008, was obviously made by bureaucrats sitting in air-conditioned offices, who did not physically come to the field to observe the plots under reservation. Hence, wrong data was entered into the DDP,” said Mr. Patil. He said the CM conceded that small errors had crept into the ELUP.
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The farms of many villagers have been marked as reserved plots or set aside for roads in the DPP