Devendra Fadnavis strips Sena-led Mumbai civic body of power to approve Mhada layouts

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. (File)

DESPITE STRONG objections raised by the Shiv Sena-led Mumbai municipality and the state’s urban development (UD) department, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday approved a proposal to make the state-run Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (Mhada) the “planning authority” for the 114 layouts it owns in the country’s commercial capital. The move effectively robs the Sena-controlled civic body of powers to sanction building proposals of housing colonies situated in these layouts, collectively spread over 20 square kilometre in Mumbai. It also comes at a time when India is banking on the re-engineering of building approvals by the Mumbai municipality for a higher ranking in the World Bank’s annual assessment exercise this year.

Fadnavis gave a formal nod to the proposal Friday, said sources. Pointing a finger at the Mumbai municipality for inordinate delays in the approvals process for Mhada layouts in Mumbai, the Mhada’s chief executive officer, Milind Mhaiskar, had first approached the UD department with the proposal in January. Town planners and senior officials in the department were not in favour of the move.

The Mumbai municipality, whose remarks were sought over Mhada’s proposal, had also strongly opposed the move. On March 31, 2018, the municipality’s Chief Engineer (Development Plan) Sanjay Darade had written to the government, cautioning that any such move would not be “in the interest of comprehensive development of Mumbai”. Maintaining that his communication to the government had the nod of Mumbai’s municipal commissioner, Darade’s letter alleged that “Mhada’s proposal was only to avoid compliance of basic terms and conditions required for processing the approvals”.

But just as both the agencies were locked in a blame game, the state’s housing department and the CMO itself jumped in favour of Mhada’s proposal, which, according to sources, tilted the scales in the latter’s favour.

Incidentally, the municipality already has a dedicated cell under its building proposals department for fast tracking approval of proposals from Mhada. While this cell has been in place for over five years, sources said that it would now have to be shut down.

According to statistics, it had received proposals from 26 layouts so far. Of which, it had issued building permissions in 15 cases. “The remainder of the cases can be processed only after compliance of various terms and conditions, documents and requisition by the Mhada,” an official said.

Denying Mhada’s contention of delays in issuance of building permits, Darade’s letter has blamed “non-compliance” on Mhada’s part for the state of affairs. “The Mhada has not handed over most of the development plan reservations (recreation grounds, playgrounds, etc) due to which, the municipality cannot develop these reservations. In the past four decades, no positive step has been taken by the Mhada to develop them,” the letter states. “…The Mhada has also not been forthcoming in compliance of various development conditions, including demarcation of plot boundaries within such layouts and submission of property cards, among others,” it added.

While construction rights for the redevelopment of Mhada layouts have been enhanced substantially in recent times, the civic body has fired another salvo at the housing agency, contending that it had failed to upgrade the internal infrastructure proportionately, depriving residents of their basic rights. “On appointing Mhada as the planning authority, the situation, regarding the compliance of basic (planning) requirements, will go totally out of order. This may result in a serious situation in the future,” the civic chief engineer has cautioned.

With premiums for construction rights now expected to go in the Mhada’s kitty, the civic body has also staked claim over the expenditure it has incurred in the development and the maintenance of basic infrastructure, such as roads, street lights, sewarage and storm water drains within such layouts.