Experts warn on dangers of DP 2034

The Mumbai development plan 2034 that the BMC is expected to announce soon will be disastrous for Mumbaikars as it is developer oriented and encourages vertical growth — which will leave in its wake diseases — making it impossible for citizens to survive. Such alarming opinions were shared by academicians and experts during the discussion on ‘The Mumbai Plan 2015-2034 organised by the department of civics and politics, University of Mumbai in association with School of Social Sciences on Saturday at the university’s Kalina campus.

Pointing to the fact that the past development plans (DP) of the BMC had been flawed, leading to the current scenario, Dr Tapati Mukhopadhyay, one of the speakers, said the city grew on its own due to the callous approach by the BMC. “I have observed the DPs since 1980 and have found that there has been no concentrated effort by the BMC to distribute the city logically. As a result, places like Andheri have become impossible to traverse as road widening is not possible and traffic has increased substantially,” said Dr Mukhopadhyay, who is also professor emeritus in geography.

She further added that some parts of the city like Parel and Elphinstone were prone to flooding during heavy rains as reclamation of the

coastline has raised the coastline, and the drainage system is unable to take away the excess water. She also said that vertical growth would lead to a disaster in case of an earthquake, as seismic predictions have not been taken into consideration.

Prof Hussain Indorewala and Shweta Wagh, who teach at Kamala Raheja Institute of Architecture, during their presentation on the distribution of resources in the city, said that the vertical growth proposed in the DP 2034 would reduce the residential and commercial area recommended per individual, as the density of the population would increase. “The city is already running out of open spaces and by increasing the Floor Space Index (FSI) upto 8 will make the city impossible to live in,” warned Indorewala. Wagh meanwhile pointed out that the proposed DP did not address the issue of traditional housing as a result of which the city would lose its character.

While replying to questions on whether the DP had taken the transport system into consideration, Gautam Chatterji, additional chief secretary, home (transport), said that as transport was taken care of by a plethora of organisations it was beyond the BMC to include it in the DP 2034. “Even though the BMC does not have any say in the existing or future transport system like railways or metro, it needs to strengthen the BEST, which is its own undertaking. The BEST is one of the best undertakings in the country and by providing it with funds it can be made more efficient,” said Mr Chatterji. He was also critical of the 8 FSI and said that there had to be a realistic approach to the plan to ensure that it was beneficial to all stakeholders and not any particular section of the city.

Dr Kapil Gupta, department of civil engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai spoke on the need for strengthening the infrastructure to sustain the proposed growth.

Dr Sudha Mohan, professor and head, department of civic and politics, MU, said that this was the first of the many discussions that the department would conduct to highlight the lacunae in the DP 2034.