Before BMC blunders again, we give you 5 reasons to speak up for Mumbai’s future

600-page plan documents how tall Mumbai’s buildings can be, the number of open spaces the city will get, how your commute will be made better

As the Maharashtra government gets set to invite your suggestions and objections to the development plan (DP), which will decide how the city will shape up over the next 20 years, we tell you five major blunders committed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the past.

Remember, this is why you should give your say

1. Heritage goes missing

Almost 950 heritage structures in the island city, western and eastern suburbs were not marked in the Development Plan (DP) 2034 with the rationale that they are yet to be notified in the new heritage list which is currently under revision. This, however, was seen as a move to make way for their development by experts. After much public outcry over the issue, the recently-appointed planning committee has asked BMC to mark all heritage structures, gaothans and koliwadas.

2. Errors, errors and more errors

International schools marked as municipal schools, police stations marked as green spaces, forts shown as gardens and religious places shows as an orphanage, the DP 2034 had hundreds of mistakes that citizens pointed out and had to be rectified by the BMC in its land-use maps. Even when the last leg of the DP 2034 was being finalised, the BMC admitted the plan was not matching with the land records numbers.

3. Metro car-shed in, citizen suggestions out

Of the 1,068 hectares under Aarey Colony, the DP has reserved 34.41 hectares for Metro car shed and 113 hectares for a zoo and botanical garden. It must be noted that the reservation for the metro car shed has been vociferously opposed by citizens. The ruling party in the BMC, Shiv Sena, also opposed the plan. Sena also objected to the proposal which said that the authorities will directly incorporate any changes in the alignment of the transport corridors in the DP without public consultation.

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4. Mark the slums, BMC says no

Despite repeated demands to mark slums in the proposed land maps, it fell on deaf ears. BMC stuck to its rationale that the slums have been marked in the existing land-use maps.

5. Lower quality of life for Mumbaiites

The per capita allocation for open spaces, health care facilities, education amenities and social amenities in the DP is not even close to the required national standards of the Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) guidelines.

For instance, the required per capita allocation for open spaces is 10-12 per sqm as per UDPFI, however, the DP has allocated only 4 per sqm in the city and suburbs.

Why DP is important

A report that was to be released in 2014, DP is the infrastructure blueprint for the city for the next two decades

It is a vision of the BMC to create public amenities.

The 600-page plan documents how tall Mumbai’s buildings can be, the number of open spaces the city will get, how your commute will be made better and new reservations for schools, hospitals and markets in the next two decades – probably everything that a political party’s manifesto will read before any election – a better quality of life for their voters.

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