State wants CRZ rules relaxed

MUMBAI, MARCH 24: The Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that special efforts would be made to convince the Central government to ...

MUMBAI, MARCH 24: The Maharashtra Government on Friday announced that special efforts would be made to convince the Central government to relax the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms as it had created hurdles in the development of residential plots at Charkop, Kandivali, Gorai and Borivali by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and also in providing civic amenities to slum dwellers along the coast.

Replying to a calling attention motion moved by Vinayak Raut and others on the hurdles in the development of 7,000 residential MHADA plots, Minister for Housing Rohidas Patil said that the CRZ norms issued by the Central Government, prohibiting development within 500 metres of the High Tide Line in coastal areas, had created hurdles in the development of residential plots by MHADA.

He said that because of the same norms the municipal corporation was not able to provide civic amenities to slum dwellers along the coast. He further said that the Advocate-General had been asked to examine the issue and efforts were being made to convince the Central Government to relax the CRZ norms.

Answering to a supplementary question from Raut, the minister said that the government had no plans to provide alternate plots to those who had bought the MHADA plots. Speaking on the occasion,Datta Nalawade questioned the propriety of the CRZ norms being applied to the plots as the plots had been a part of the development plan of Mumbai approved in 1985 and the CRZ norms came into force from 1991.

Speaking on the occasion, BJP member Raj Purohit accused the bureaucracy in Delhi of ignoring the seriousness of the issue. He pointed out that while there were hotels and residential structures right on the coast in Goa, the same had been denied to Maharashtra.

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Arun Gujarathi, intervened and asked the minister to convene a special meeting of the MLAs from Mumbai to discuss the issue. Patil said that it would be done.