Nearly 50% bldgs in Vasai-Virar are illegal, MLAs allege

The state government had issued a notification for the new DP for Vasai-Virar in October 2025, minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal said

Mumbai: A new development plan (DP) for Vasai-Virar will be prepared soon and an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer will be appointed as the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) commissioner for effective town planning, minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal informed the legislative assembly on Wednesday.

Nearly 50% bldgs in Vasai-Virar are illegal, MLAs allege

Misal was speaking after local MLAs alleged that nearly half the buildings in Vasai-Virar are illegal and over one-third of reserved plots have been encroached upon owing to poor planning and weak administration.

BJP MLA Sneha Pandit Dube said, “Vasai Virar is considered the breathing zone of Mumbai, but the illegal construction in the city has put this oxygen zone in danger.”

MLA Rajan Naik said that out of 972 plots reserved for public and social utilities in Vasai-Virar, 329 had been encroached upon, while out of 1 million buildings across the city, around 499,000 were illegal.

“The city has turned into a mess in the past two decades owing to improper town planning. The development plan for 2001-21 ended five years ago, but no new plan is in place, although several major infrastructure projects such as the bullet train and the Virar-Vadodara Expressway are passing through the city,” Naik said.

The slum redevelopment authority had failed to redevelop old and dilapidated buildings in Vasai-Virar and a cluster development policy needs to be introduced, he said.

Naik also said that the consultant appointed for preparing the DP was facing corruption cases, while the committee appointed for the purpose had no experts on it. “The committee must be replaced,” he said.

In response, Misal said that the government had issued a notification for the new DP in October 2025.

“It is true that the process of the new DP has been delayed due to various problems, but it has been rectified now. Officers appointed for it have joined and the deputy director of town planning is heading the task with other officials. Generally, the process of DP preparation takes three years and we are committed to give a new DP within the stipulated period,” she said.

Local MLAs also sought a joint meeting between civic officials, elected representatives and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the urban development department. MLA Yogesh Sagar said that though Vasai-Virar connected Maharashtra and Gujarat and several major infrastructure projects were underway in the city, promotee IAS officers, who lacked vision for development, were appointed to head the municipal corporations within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), including Vasai-Virar.

“This has resulted in poor planning and development of cities in the MMR including Vasai-Virar. The government should appoint IAS officers to head cities in the MMR,” he said.

Misal subsequently announced that IAS officers would be appointed to head the Vasai-Virar and other municipal corporations in MMR. She also said that a meeting would be convened under the chairmanship of Eknath Shinde after the budget session was over.