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Journalism of Courage
June 9: Just when it seemed that 45,000 slum-dwellers were on the threshold of seeing their dream houses materialise, a sulking housing minister has shut the door in their face. The proposal, that would have freed nine projects at Bandra and Prabhadevi under the state government’s Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA), has now been stayed indefinitely despite special clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the state Urban Development Department (UDD) simply because Housing Minister Rohidas Patil felt “left out” of the consultations.
Though Patil’s decision appears inexplicable at first, senior government officials say that his tantrum was a knee-jerk reaction to his exclusion from the negotiations between the Centre and state. The housing minister’s nod was not required, they say, but Patil had taken umbrage and issued an order dated June 5, significantly citing no reason for his sweeping stay.
The nine plots, of the 49 SRA projects that were tangled in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 1991, were released from the central notification after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh petitioned the MoEF at a meeting in New Delhi in May. The state Urban Development Department then issued a circular dated May 19, releasing the plots for development.
The problem revolved around the reduced Floor Sapce Index (FSI) that the CRZ notification allowed, from the earlier 2.5 to 1.33. The restriction was imposed vide a circular issued by the MoEF dated September 1998. With the FSI curbs, the interest of builders in developing these plots under the SRA waned and the hopes of at least 45,000 slum-dwellers receded.
However, Rohidas Patil told Newsline that the clearance of these nine projects was done “hurriedly” and that he had ordered a stay to find out whether any “undue favours” had been given to some projects. He said: “There are 49 projects under this SRA scheme which got affected by CRZ restrictions and why were just nine cleared? I have referred the matter to a high-committee within the ministry.”
Denying the charges, senior government officials explain that the preferential treatment to these nine projects was based on the progress of work at the respective sites as well as the conditions of the people affected. Since these schemes had been launched much before the central notification was issued, the chief minister had requested the Centre to release these plots from the CRZ restrictions and the MoEF had agreed.
Moreover, after the schemes were conceived, large groups of slum-dwellers had been shifted to transit camps, leaving them in the lurch as the their the tenements meant to accommodate them were left incomplete.
However, efforts to contact Gautam Chattergee, chief executive officer, SRA proved futile.
Sitting MLA Vishaka Raut told Newsline: “Rohidas Patil has issued a stay order on some projects under the SRA and two of these fall in my constituency. Over 1,000 families in Prabhadevi have been put to severe hardship as they been relocated to transit camps in Borivli since the last 30 months with no development at these plots. Now this relief also is bogged down by the Housing Department. I am planning to meet the chief minister to get the matter clarified.”
