Civic body yet to announce DP panel members

While the state government has already announced the names of three members for the planning committee of Mumbai’s Development Plan (DP) 2034, lack of consensus continues to delay the appointment of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee members on the panel.

On August 12, the Maharashtra state director of town planning appointed three members — Gautam Chatterjee, retired additional chief secretary; Sudhir Ghate, retired BMC chief engineer and Suresh V. Surve, retired deputy director of town planning — to the planning committee, which will study the suggestions and objections to the DP.

Of the three members of the civic standing committee, the Shiv Sena — the ruling party in the BMC — has still not been able to decide on the names. While the Sena and the BJP are sure to get representation, the Congress, the main opposition party, has also demanded a seat on the panel. “In order to ensure transparency in the process of hearing the suggestions and objections, I have written to the municipal commissioner and mayor that the Opposition party corporator should also added to the panel,” said Pravin Chheda, Opposition party leader in the BMC.

However, sources said the Sena is reluctant to give the third spot to the Opposition, as it wants to have its say in the panel. The party has already expressed concerns over issues like removing restrictions on No-Development Zone areas and exploitation of green zones in the DP. Party leaders in the BMC have vowed to correct these aspects before sending it to the state government for final approval.

BMC standing committee chairperson Yashodhar Phanse said the three names are yet to be finalised. “The names of the civic standing committee members on the panel will be announced in the civic House only,” he said.

Interestingly, there was no representative of the state government in the planning committee formed for the last DP. The seven-member committee comprised then-civic standing committee chairman Amarnath Patil (Shiv Sena), Pushpkant Mhatre (Nagri Dal), Ramesh Prabhu (Shiv Sena), Indumati Patel (Congress), Ramanand Lad (PDF), the then-chief engineer of development planning department and an engineer.