Government to dominate Development Plan panel

Shiv Sena, the ruling party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), may not have a say in deciding the fate of the Development Plan 2034 as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government will dominate the planning committee that is to be formed to study suggestions and objections for the DP.

According to civic officials, the seven-member planning committee will have four members from the state government, whereas three members will be from the BMC standing committee. Though the committee will be headed by the civic standing committee chairman, the Sena will have to share one seat from the BMC quota with its alliance partner BJP.

Interestingly, there was no state government representative in the planning committee formed for the last DP.

The seven-member committee comprised the 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.

The planning committee now has been formed as per the MRTP Act 28(2), which was amended in 2011.

Accordingly, it was decided that there should not to be more than four non-BMC members in the committee. While three members will be from the BMC standing committee, there is no cap on their number in the committee.

Shiv Sena has already expressed concerns over issues like removing restrictions on No-Development Zone (NDZ) 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 its final approval. “By making use of the clause in the MRTP Act, we should try to increase the BMC’s participation in the planning committee. The majority of state government members may create trouble for us. There is no cap on the strength of the BMC’s members in the committee. It has to be increased to enable us to make corrections as per our plans,” said a senior Sena corporator on condition of anonymity.

The last date for sending the suggestions and objections for the draft DP is July 29.