Citizens demand greater say in development plan

In the second such meeting in less than 10 days, more than 100 citizens gathered at Dadar’s Vanmali Hall, initiating a movement to demand a greater say in the revision of the city’s development blueprint for the next 20 years, HT reports.

In the second such meeting in less than 10 days, more than 100 citizens gathered at Dadar’s Vanmali Hall, initiating a movement to demand a greater say in the revision of the city’s development blueprint for the next 20 years.

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Citizens debated for over three hours on ways to reach more people such as signature campaigns, and providing existing land use (ELU) maps at the ward level to citizens.

Organisations such as YUVA, Akshara, Sheher Vikas Manch and Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) were a part of the meeting, attended by a sizeable number of citizens from various slum clusters in the city, who demanded more reservations for weaker sections. Citizens demanded greater housing rights for slum-dwellers as a part of the ELU.

Raju Bhise, director of YUVA, said: “One of our demands is that the ELU needs to be verified by citizens. Secondly, the ELU has to be first approved by the public and then by the BMC. In two days, we will decide on an action plan to expand this movement”. The organisations plan to approach the civic chief and the CM with their demands.