MMRDA junks one plan for another, delays projects

Information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has revealed that the Urban Development Department in 2014-15 had decided to grant 3.0 FSI to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) for development in Block A located in Bandra (west) from the BKC notified area.

The urban development department had toyed with three options before opting for the one that permitted Mhada to utilise the full potential of FSI as per the revisions of the Development Control Regulations (DCR) 33 (5).

However, now the same land is with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for inclusion in the Development Plan 2034.

This was revealed by Mohammad Furqan Qureshi, who got the information under the RTI Act.

“I had sought information from MMRDA regarding the Block ‘A’ as it was the special planning authority (SPA) before it was transferred to the MCGM for inclusion in the Development Plan 2034,” said Mr Qureshi.

“That is when I came across the documents that showed that Mhada had already planned for the same plot and had also been granted permission to develop it and would get FSI of up to 3.00,” said Mr Qureshi.

He said that he had filed a petition in the Bombay high court demanding a graveyard in Bandra (west) or Khar (west) for the increasing population that had to go to already overfilled graveyards at Bandra (east) or Santacruz (west).

As per the communication between MMRDA and the UDD, copies of which are available with The Asian Age, the UDD had received an application from Mhada in the form of three options for developing Block ‘A’ and it had approved the option that allowed development of the plot under DCR 33 (5) with a 3.00 FSI.

“In the current scenario, there is utter confusion among the people as to why a new plan is being made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) while there is an existing plan by Mhada. The BMC should adopt the plan and ensure that there is no further delay in the declaration of the DP plan,” said Mr Qureshi.

When asked about the same, Vivek More, deputy chief engineer, DP said, “The state government has issued a notification stating that the planning proposals and regulations of MMRDA will be continued till such time the revised DP is sanctioned and the development plan remarks may be issued by MMRDA till publication of draft DP by MCGM.”

Officials from the UDD were unavailable for comment despite The Asian Age’s repeated attempts to contact them.