Letter to Chief Minister

April 15, 2013

The Hon. Chief Minister,

Govt. of Maharashtra,

Mantralaya, Mumbai.

Dear Sir,

Sub: Scrap Town Planning and Development Control Rules

The Mumbra building crash in which 74 unfortunate people perished was one of the worst incidents in the history of Maharashtra.

The incident has jolted the sensitivities of the people, just like the Delhi Gang Rape incident – as like the attitude of those insensitive and gory rapists in Delhi, in Mumbra the nexus of Politician, Builder, bureaucrats and Police has got thoroughly exposed.

On this background, the people of Maharashtra expected that the Govt. will announce a string of measures that will rid the state of this Cancer like Nexus and also curb the growing menace of Illegal constructions.

But what is shocking is that post the episode, politicians, who were expected to show some remorse are in fact defending this phenomenon of illegal constructions with impunity.

One of them – a leader from your ruling coalition partner - who has been exposed as the prime protector of all the illegal activity has the guts to pronounce that he wil do it again and again and thanks to your compulsions of Coalition politics is still roaming free, when he should have been booked under the MRTP Act alongwith other criminal codes and put behind bars.

What is shocking is Union Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar, instead of stopping his crony, indirectly supported him in your presence in Thane by remarking – first rehabilitation then demolition. And now, much to the chagrin of the people, the Shiv Sena has also joined the band wagon of NCP in demanding that illegal structures upto 2010 be regularised.

Sir, this vote bank politics is the basic reasons for all these ills plaguing the city.For very near the International Airport in Mumbai to every nook and corner of the state, we see illegal slums and constructions mushrooming across the state and our politicians, instead of tackling the problem are sheltering them as they form their vote banks.

Schemes like Indira and Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana are a waste of public money. These schemes are supposed to provide affordable housing and incentives to the homeless. But we find corruption there. Had these schemes been utilised properly, people would not have purchased houses in unauthorised homes and such deaths could have been avoided.

We find that lakhs of people applying for MHADA flats but very few get them.The rest of them buy houses in unauthorised constructions. Another section of people prefer to reside on footpaths, under flyovers and Railways FOBs.

And then periodically there are demands to upgrade cut-offs for legalising illegal constructions and slums from 1995 to 2001 and now 2010.

In a shocking incident and a blot on Maharashtra’s progressive face, 85% of illegal constructions in Ulhasnagar were regularised by the Govt. and using that as a precedent, now there are demands to do the same in Thane also.

First you don’t stop the people from building such structures – in fact, local politicians encourage them, pressurise the administration to give them water and electricity, protect them and then raise demands to regularise them or rehabilitate them – claiming in Mr. Pawar’s words – ‘ to show the human face of the govt’.

Sir, the people of Thane and Maharashtra has seen thru the devil’s face of these politicians.

The Alert citizens of Thane City very regretfully demand that you scrap the Town Planning depts. And development Control rules in Maharashtra.

What is the use of having such Depts. And Rules when nobody listens to them and they are broken by the very people who are supposed to implement them – and having done that demand illegal structures to be regularised?

Sir, you are an upright person. The State of Maharashtra looks upon you to free the state from such unholy, power greedy and devilish politicians who have been raping the state for the past 14 years in the name of coalition politics.

Rein in such arrogant, criminal minded and divisive politicians and you would do the state a whole world of good. We look up to you to deliver…

Regards,

For Alert Citizens of Thane City,

Dayanand Nene (887528575)                               Shasi Nair (9892522781)

President                                                                  Secretary