Letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra regarding Cluster Development Policy

November 29, 2014

The Hon. Chief Minister,

Govt. of Maharashtra,

Mantralaya,

Mumbai.

CC: Shri Sanjay Kelkar ji,

Hon. MLA, Thane City

Dear Sirs,

Sub: Request NOT to approve Cluster Development Scheme for Thane, as proposed by the previous govt..

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

The incident had 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.

Since the Mumbra building crash, we have seen 2 more buildings collapse in Kalwa and Thane respectively.

The common factor in all these accidents was that in all the buildings, there were FSI violations and all were illegal.

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 were in fact defending this phenomenon of illegal constructions with impunity.

Firstly, we saw a spectre where all political parties, barring the BJP, observed a Thane Bandh to pressurize the administration to stop demolition of illegal buildings and then they all ganged up and to pressurize the then government to legalize all these illegal constructions under the garb of Cluster Development.

The Alert Citizens Forum of India { formerly Thane City}  had then also strongly opposed the move by all the political parties to regularize illegal buildings in Thane.

We had also given a memorandum to the then CM in this regard.

Our stand on this is very clear - If the government starts legalizing structures that have come up without any permission, then what is the need of a Town Planning Dept. and Development Control Rules in the state?

The Cluster Development scheme shall not solve Thane’s problems but compound them. Where is the space available in areas like Mumbra or Kisan Nagar, where people cannot remove a dead body horizontically due to lack of space.

Sir, this demand for Cluster is pure vote bank politics and that is the basic reason for all these ills plaguing the city. The incentive of FSI of 4, announced by the then CM, Shri Prithviraj Chavan, might prove inadequate as many builders might think of it as not profitable enough.

In a survey carried out in Thane by our organization, it was found that the average FSI consumption in Thane is already 2.75. In order to give a house to the resident at nominal price, the builder will have to raise money through open sale of surplus houses. Here, FSI of 4 might not lure the builders. What will the Govt. do then?

And what message shall we be giving to the other law abiding citizens..? Break the law and you will be rewarded..??

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 utilized properly, people would not have purchased houses in unauthorized homes and such deaths could have been avoided.

The Alert Citizens Forum of India once again requests you to NOT approve the Cluster Development scheme for Thane, as has been proposed by the previous govt.

Sir, if you sign the proposal you shall be signing a Death Warrant for Thane City.

And if you do approve then we very regretfully demand that you scrap the Town Planning Depts. and Development Control Rules in Maharashtra.

Just see the figures – Shri Prithviraj Chavan admitted that 90% buildings in Mumbra are illegal. The Mumbai High Court has directed the state govt. to demolish 84% of buildings in Ulhasnagar as they were illegal. Ultimately, the Govt. had to change the law to regularize them. In Thane 70% buildings are illegal. In Mira Bhayander 75%  buildings are illegal. In Vasai Virar 75% buildings are illegal.

What is happening ? Is there a state of law ??

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 regularized?

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.

We look up to you to deliver…

Regards,

For Alert Citizens Forum of India,

Dayanand Nene (8879528575)                                                       Shasi Nair (07702059000)

President                                                                                            Secretary

Jitendra Satpute, Kiran Joshi, Sandhya Malhotra, Prasad Bedekar (Members).