Give suggestions for cluster plan in 30 days

Thane city has a total land of 5,903 hectares out of which 1291 hectares will be developed under the cluster development scheme.

The Thane Municipal Corporation has issued notification of the cluster development scheme on Wednesday, thus taking a step closer to its implementation.

The TMC has finally issued notification of the cluster scheme and has invited the suggestion objection from the people in Thane (HT Photo)

It has uploaded the details of all 44 urban renewal plans on its website for the residents to give suggestions and objections.

However, there are a lot of questions as the corporators as well as the residents are still confused about the scheme.

Every citizen benefiting from the scheme should understand the scheme thoroughly, said activists.

Thane city has a total land of 5,903 hectares out of which 1291 hectares will be developed under the cluster development scheme.

“This means around 22 percent of the total land available will be developed under the scheme,” said Sandeep Malvi, public relations officer of TMC.

Malvi said, “We have uploaded all the urban renewal plans on the corporation’s website. The hard copies will be available in the town planning department and ward offices. We will also put up flex boards at prominent places at each of the clusters.”

People who have any suggestions and objections with respect to the amenities, open space or road network among other things can send it before June 5 to the civic commissioner. “We will consider those which are valid and the urban renewal plans will then be send to the high power committee of the state government for approval,” said Malvi.

Thane residents can access the plans of all the 44 URPs on the corporation’s website, www.thanecity.gov.in. The residents can give their suggestions and objections in the next 30 days.

The residents said that though the urban renewal plans are uploaded on the website, they are difficult to understand.

Milind Gaikwad, a resident of Samata Nagar, said, “Not all people have access to the website. Moreover, there is no clarity on which buildings are included in cluster, how much area we will get or amenities in the scheme. There should be more publicity of the scheme. The corporation should display hard copies in schools, community halls and civic buildings. They should also keep presentations in mobile vehicles.”

He added that meetings should be held in every locality so that people will know exactly what the scheme is and how they will benefit.

Chandrahas Tawade, a city-based activist, said: “The scheme should not only be explained to the beneficiaries but also to each and every resident in the city. Moreover, it will put burden on the existing infrastructure. There should be meetings on the scheme in each and every chowk, lane and junction in the city.”

Naresh Mhaske, leader of the house, said that the corporators will have an important role to play in the scheme. “They are the ones who will take the scheme to the residents. It is true that most corporators do not know much about the scheme. So, we are trying to explain it to them first,” said Mhaske.

An official from town planning department said that they would conduct meetings in each cluster from this month. “We conducted a meeting in Kopri last month. We will conduct a meeting in each of the urban renewal plans. Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal will be present for meetings for big clusters.”