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‘Selective de-reservation’ of hilltop land parcels gives bad name to government: Misal
The legislator’s letter to the CM on Monday follows a day after Bibwewadi residents protested against the state government for its double standards in dealing with residents and builders for construction on HTHS zone
Parvati Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Madhuri Misal has written to chief minister Eknath Shinde stating that the controversy over allegations related to “selective de-reservation” of hill top hill slope zone (HTHS) was giving the state government, under his leadership, a bad name.
The legislator’s letter to the CM on Monday follows a day after Bibwewadi residents protested against the state government for its double standards in dealing with residents and builders for construction on HTHS zone.
The public outrage is related to a seven-acre plot in their area de-reserved from HTHS and declared a residential zone to facilitate a developer. The state urban development department has also lined up a few more plots, owned by developers and landowners, to be removed from HTHS.
Misal said that a large land parcel at Bibwewadi was included in HTHS under the Pune’s Development Plan 1987. Following public opposition to illegal structures, mostly slum pockets, coming up on the green belt, the decision to enforce HTHS on the plots was kept in abeyance in 2018.
The legislator pointed out that, in 2023, in a bid to de-reserve 11 plots owned by developers, the state urban development department called for opinion of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). “The then municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar okayed removing selected plots from HTHS zone,” she said. Based on the civic chief’s opinion, the state government recently had issued an order inviting objections and suggestions to de-reserve a plot, owned by the said developer, on the HTHS zone.
According to residents of the area, whose houses stand on plots in the HTHS zone, the government is being partial towards developers and landowners. The decision comes at a time when the residents are forced to pay property taxes three times over regular rates, as houses on such plots are considered illegal.
“I request you (CM) to put on hold the decision to de-reserve plot owned by developer and consider de-reserving the entire area at one go,” reads the letter written by Misal who has also sought appointment with the chief minister to discuss the issue.
