BMC gifts fire force land to builder

Without setting up the promised unit, civic body gives entire FSI to developer

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has doled out a plot reserved for the fire brigade to a private developer for commercial purposes.

While it is understood that the plot was allotted to the developer at the instance of the Shiv Sena MLA from Dahisar, the local MP from the Congress has asked the civic body to revoke the decision.

Documents with BMC’s development planning and building proposals departments show a plot on the Dahisar-Link Road near the east-west flyover — approximately 4.5 acres — as being reserved for fire brigade.

The BMC has allotted more than half the plot to a private developer for constructing two-high rises (19 storeys each, with the first two floors for stilt parking). In lieu of this, the developer promised to build the fire brigade facility free of cost.

But sources say there’s more to the deal that what meets the eye. While the builder has not constructed the promised fire brigade, the BMC has allowed the developer to ‘develop the remaining 50 per cent site to the full permissible FSI’.

This means the developer will consume all the available FSI — even from BMC’s share.

Sensing a major scam, the New Link Road Resident Forum (NLRRF) from Dahisar have taken up the case.

Residents claim the BMC commissioner himself has revoked the plan in May this year due to political pressure. The revocation order has been put on hold. “When the BMC themselves can construct a fire brigade and use the remaining land for public amenities or for providing housing to the firemen, why should it gift the land to a private developer?

“Is the civic body, with a budget of Rs29,000 crore, so cash-strapped that it could not even spend Rs50 crore to build a fire station on its own?” said Harish Pandey, a forum member. The forum is planning litigation against the BMC.

Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte had, on May 28, given orders to revoke the commercial exploitation in a meeting with Sanjay Nirupam MP, along with local corporators and residents.

However, it is learnt that the building proposals department has given the Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) ‘in-principle’ approval for a proposed project to start construction the same day.

Senior BMC officials said it was after Nirupam’s meeting with Kunte that the BMC revoked the decision to use the land for commercial exploitation. However, local MLA Vinod Ghosalkar met Kunte afterwards and told him that commercial exploitation was in the interest of the locals as well as the BMC. “The decision taken to revoke the proposal should be implemented without any delay,” Nirupam said.
Courtesy:
Geeta Desai @desaigeeta
Published Date:  Dec 03, 2013
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=56073&boxid=31900&ed_date=2013-12-03&ed_code=820009&ed_page=3

BMC ‘loses’ 400 files involving dodgy developers

The BMC commissioner has asked for police complaints to be filed against members of his own staff after it emerged that over 400 files relating to construction projects in the city had gone missing over the last few months.

Most of these files relate to controversial projects, and the fact that they had gone missing came to light after citizens and activists probing illegalities sought them under the Right To Information Act. Months after filing their applications, they received replies saying the files could not be found.

Last month, they complained to the civic body chief Sitaram Kunte, who has now ordered that the officers in charge of the missing files be booked under the Maharshtra Public Record Act of 2005.

According to Section 9 of the Maharashtra Public Records Act, officers responsible for lost documents can be sent to prison for five years, or fined Rs 10,000, or both.

Among those affected by the files going missing are the Oshiwara Lokhandwala Citizens’ Association (OLCA) and Save Open Spaces (SOS), an non-profit organisation. The two bodies had sought copies of files pertaining to close to a 100 under-construction and complete buildings in Andheri, Oshiwara and Juhu, including 11 in the last three months. “When the 30-day deadline (for the civic body to respond) elapsed, we approached the BMC, only to be told that the files had gone missing,” said Ashoke Pandit, a member of both OLCA and SOS. “We suspected that there were large-scale violations in these projects, which is why we had asked for the files. The fact that they’re missing suggests that officials are hand-in-glove with the developers.”

When Aftab Siddique, chairperson of 33rd Road Khar ALM, found that a few of the files she had sought were missing, she asked for a complete list. “I was shocked. I started digging further and sought details of all the missing files,”said Siddique. The BMC gave her a list of 303 such missing files of projects in Bandra, Khar and Santacruz alone, and Siddique says that nearly all of these involved developers who had flouted norms. Recently, Siddique was part of a group of citizens who approached Kunte with details of the missing files, asking that action be taken. “Some citizens came to me on Lokshahi Din (a forum for redressal of citizens’ complaints) last month and complained about certain illegal constructions. When I asked the concerned officers, I found that the files had gone missing,” Kunte said.

He has now ordered a detailed probe and asked the deputy chief engineers of the Building Proposal Department to identify the officers who were supposed to be maintaining the missing files. He also ordered that cases be filed with police stations at the ward office level, and that the officers involved be booked under the Maharashtra Public Record Act, 2005. “Responsibility will be fixed on those involved,” Kunte said.
Courtesy:
Yogesh Sadhwani and Pandurang Mhaske
Posted On Monday, December 17, 2012 at 12:13:30 PM
http://mumbaimirror.com/article/2/20121217201212171213415034efe7ddc/BMC-%E2%80%98loses%E2%80%99-400-files-involving-dodgy-developers.html