Centre constitutes panel for transfer of Indu Mills plot

Days before the BMC polls in Mumbai,the Central government has constituted a seven-member committee of senior Central and state bureaucrats to find ways of implementing their promise of handing over the Indu Mills land to Dalit groups for the Ambedkar memorial.

Days before the BMC polls in Mumbai,the Central government has constituted a seven-member committee of senior Central and state bureaucrats to find ways of implementing their promise of handing over the Indu Mills land to Dalit groups for the Ambedkar memorial.

The move comes after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to CM Prithviraj Chavans request for granting the entire 12.5 acres of Indu Mills for the construction of a memorial to Ambedkar. The sea-facing prime property in Dadar is a defunct mill owned by the National Textiles Corporation (NTC). The plot is adjoining Chaityabhoomi,the final resting place of Ambedkar,which is visited by lakhs of followers on his death anniversary each year on December 6.

The panel will be headed by Union secretary (Textiles) and its members will comprise NTC chairman-cum-managing director and a joint secretary each from the Textiles Ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. State-level representatives in the committee will include Maharashtra Chief Secretary,BMC commissioner and Principle Secretary,Urban Development Department.

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The terms of reference for the panel would be mainly to work out the modalities of making land available for the memorial as well as looking at the compliance with environmental,legal and procedural requirements. The committee will also have to ensure that it arrives at a mutually agreeable decision for adequately compensating the NTC.

While NTC officials said they havent got valuation done for the plot,they pointed out that they are nonetheless staring at a loss of potential revenue amounting to a few thousands of crores. In 2010,we sold the Podar and Bharat mills in Worli at Rs 200 crore an acre. The Indu Mills land is far more precious as it abuts the sea front in Dadar, said an official. He added that what makes it more lucrative is the fact that since the plot falls under Coastal Regulations Zone II,it could get a high FSI of 5. Unlike private mills owners,who cash in on the proceeds of the mill land sale,for NTC the sale of Mumbais textile land is a revenue source for modernising,expanding and capacity-building in its mills across the country, the official said.

Earlier,it was decided that the NTC would hand over only four acres of the Indu Mills land,which will be used for extending the Chaityabhoomi project. It was to house a library featuring the works and writings of Ambedkar under phase four of the BMCs project for upgrading Chaityabhoomi. While it has been the long-standing demand of the Dalit icons followers that the entire mill land be allotted for the project,on December 6 this year,supporters of Republican Sena led by Ambedkars grandson Anandraj Ambedkar forcibly occupied the mill premises. With the BMC elections on the horizon,all political parties decided to back the demand.

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