City must have just 1 planning body: BMC

After the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) said the controversial Adarsh society was guilty of environmental violations, mayor Shraddha Jadhav, on Tuesday, demanded that the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) be stripped of its powers as special planning authority (SPA). HT reports.

After the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) said the controversial Adarsh society was guilty of environmental violations, mayor Shraddha Jadhav, on Tuesday, demanded that the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) be stripped of its powers as special planning authority (SPA).

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Claiming that an Adarsh-like debacle wouldn’t have happened if it was under the civic body’s jurisdiction, mayor Jadhav and standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale made this demand to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan at a meeting at the MMRDA office, on Tuesday.

Shewale said, “Adarsh managed to get all requisite permissions from the MMRDA because, as the SPA of the area, it wasn’t strict about checking violations. Similar violations will continue if there are two planning authorities in the city. Only BMC should be allowed to play this role.”

In case of Adarsh, the MMRDA, the SPA of Backbay Reclamation, was responsible for giving permissions for the building. The SPA of a prescribed area is responsible for planning development of the area and is in charge of keeping a check on development.

Civic leaders believe that by allowing Adarsh to come up, the MMRDA misused its powers.

Shewale said, “We had passed a notice of motion with a majority in the BMC’s general body meeting a few weeks ago and the Urban Development department has been forwarded the notice. We hope to get a positive response on this demand.”

Stepping up the heat on MMRDA, mayor Jadhav also demanded that the authority share its earnings in the sale of MMRDA land, where it is the SPA.

“The MMRDA makes enormous gains in the sale of its land across the city, but we have to ensure infrastructure in those plots. Hence, it’s fair that the MMRDA gives us a share of its earnings,” Shewale said.

A senior MMRDA official, not wishing to be named, said, “If the BMC wants a share of our pie, then we could demand that they give us 50% of property tax collected in the Bandra-Kurla complex. Also, sale of land is our only source of income, unlike the civic body, which has many sources. It isn’t fair of them to ask us.”