MSRDC to suggest changes in development plan along e-way

Mumbai: After one-and-a-half months of hearing the public’s suggestions and objections, the MSRDC will suggest changes in the development plan (DP) designed for the 71 villages dotting the Mumbai-Pune expressway (e-way).

The MSRDC has received suggestions and objections from the residents of the villages along the E-way, gram-panchayats, builders and developers. The MSRDC has followed procedure and heard all the suggestions and objections.

Vijay Waghmare, joint managing director, MSRDC, said, “The hearing procedure has taken one-and-a-half months to be completed. There have been very few instances where we faced a tense situation. We have solved the problem immediately by just talking to the people making the allegations.”

The officer said that most of the suggestions were rational. “We are looking at the accepted suggestions. Then the documents will be submitted to the Planning Committee. Additional modifications will be carried out as per suggestions of the board of directors. It will then be sent to the state government. It will take at least six months to introduce the final DP,” said Mr Waghmare.

Apparently, suggestions and objections are ongoing and people are likely to come up with new suggestions and objections. According to officials, people attended the hearings with documents and proofs and when they realised that no one was usurping their land, they agreed to cooperate with the government. Some reservations shown wrongly in the DP were corrected after the people pointed out these mistakes. The entire procedure was delayed by six months because of the people’s demand that suggestions and objections be heard. The DP will be implemented in phases for the 71 villages. It covers 186.72 square kilometres in Panvel and Khalapur talukas and the population of the entire area is nearly 1 lakh.