Maharashtra govt set to relax no-construction zone norm around jails

Sources said the proposal is to trim the radius of the no-construction zone around the state’s 54 jails to 20 meters. (Source: REUTERS/Representational)

WHILE THE debate over the security in and around jails still rages on in the country, the Maharashtra government is set to relax the no-construction zone norm around its prisons. This would be the second time in three years that the BJP-led government has proposed dilution of the norm.

Sources said the proposal is to trim the radius of the no-construction zone around the state’s 54 jails to 20 meters. A blanket 182 m cap was originally applicable around all jails in the state. In June 2015, the Fadnavis government had reduced the cap to 150 m, 100 m and 50 m for central jails, district jails and open prisons, respectively.

Of the 54 jails, there are nine central and 30 district prisons. At the time of the first relaxation in 2015, the state home department, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, had contended that the relaxation was in sync with the Centre’s model jail manual.

Sources, however, said that the newly proposed relaxation would facilitate luxury construction projects coming up near Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail and Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail, both of which qualify as central jails.

Developers might, however, just need to pay a price to avail the benefit. To not give developers of such properties a carte blanche, the state government has proposed a collection of additional charges for such properties; the quantum of which is yet to be finalised.

The plan is to utilise the money, so collected, for beefing up the security apparatus in and around jails, and for the upkeep of the jail premises. In March, during the budget session of the state legislature, Fadnavis had hinted at plans for imparting such a relaxation. But he had not said anything about the premiums to be charged at that time.

While relaxing the cap, the government has also proposed to make it mandatory for developers building projects within 150 m of central jails to seek security clearance from a high-level panel headed by the Home secretary. The committee’s mandate would be to evaluate the security threat from such construction projects on a case-to-case basis. The same procedure will also be followed for coming up in the 21-100 m radius of district jails and 21-50 m radius of open prisons.

Incidentally, in 2013, a panel headed by then additional chief secretary (Home) Amitabh Rajan, had recommended for grading the height of construction projects within 500 m radius of the jail premises. While Fadnavis’s predecessor Prithviraj Chavan had accepted the panel’s recommendation at that time, even the previous regime had come under intense pressure from the builder lobby, and did not issue formal orders in this regard.

Former additional director general of police (Prisons) Meeran Borwankar had first raised red flag over the mushrooming high-rise projects coming up within striking distance of Arthur Road Jail, even seeking a probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on how these had been permitted despite the security threat.

Sources said that a construction magnate had been pushing for the lifting of the construction cap, which would benefit his project near Arthur Road. The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), which is the town planning agency in Navi Mumbai, had also approached the state’s urban development department for easing of the norm around Taloja jail for land monetisation purposes.