WITH the deadline for submission of suggestions and objections to the revised draft of the Development Plan (DP) 2034 a day away, the civic commissioner is yet to nominate three standing committee members to the planning committee for the revised draft DP. The planning committee is to hear the submissions made by the people to the BMC in the past 60 days. The planning committee will comprise seven members, including three from the standing committee and the other four to be appointed by the state government. The committee will prepare a consolidated report after conducting hearings with the citizens on their suggestions and objections. The report will then be presented before the house, which will be given 60 days to grant its approval, after which it will be sent to the state government for the final nod. Meanwhile, resident’s associations and citizen groups continued to file their suggestions and objections to the provisions made in the DP 2034. Apna Mumbai Abhiyaan, a coalition of citizen groups, submitted multiple responses about various aspects of the development plan, including noise pollution, conservation of heritage structures and natural areas among others. Terming the DP incomplete, P K Das, an architect and member of AMA, pointed out inconsistencies in data which needs to be collated and boundaries which are yet to be mapped. “The draft DP has published insufficient and incomplete data on many issues, including data of encroachments on reserved open spaces, basis for calculation for layout of recreational ground as well as the basis for affordable housing calculation in slum redevelopment projects,” said Das. Watch Video: What's making news The AMA has also submitted objections about the Aarey Colony, suggested it be marked as Natural Area and not as NDZ. The Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens’ Association also submitted objections for the designations of Nehru Garden, alleging that the civic body has marked incompatible uses of a recreational garden and offices. The trustees of the association in their letter stated that the said plot was marked as an RG in the DP of 1981. However, the DP has ‘proposed to combine two incompatible uses for Nehru Garden of Recreational Ground and Offices’. Currently, offices of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), the Employment Exchange as well as those of the BJP and the Janta Dal are located here. However, after NPCCA filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Bombay High Court in 2013, the judge instructed BJP to demolish the illegal structure within six months and further ordered the BMC to demolish it if the BJP fails to do so. A senior civic official stated that the designation has been marked as per the existing use. “We have maintained the current designation. Once it is demolished, we will change it in the DP later,” according to the official.
