8216;Civic body cannot penalise contractors for every offence8217;

Manasi Phadke: Some say the coastal road project is too huge to be implemented by any Urban Local Body. What is your opinion?

The project is at an initial stage and it is almost 35-km stretch with eight lanes. It is a big project costing nearly Rs 9,000 crore. It is yet to be decided who will implement and execute the project. Various models could be there,such as one stretch given to BMC,one to MMRDA and one to MSRDC.

Sagnik Chowdhury: Is the future certain in the first place? Because another phase is also being planned for sea link.

Yes,MSRDC is pushing hard for the sea link. Sea links solution is far costlier than coastal roads. Sea link is Rs 20,000-22,000 crore and coastal road is Rs 9,000 crore. So,coastal road is more economical.

Shubhangi Khapre: Land acquisition is also a factor. Because there is opposition to defacing the coastal stretch.

It is not necessarily defacing as it is designed to add value to the advantage of the coastline. For example,Marine Drive was built like a coastal road and it is an attractive places. Similar promenades are being planned on coastal roads and care is being taken to minimise disturbance to fishermen communities and also not to interfere with the beaches by proposing to go underground even below the Juhu coast stretch. The only issue that is delaying further progress is that the environment ministry does not allow reclamation of land. As of now,the project entails reclamation of nearly 100 acres. We noted that Marine Drive was also reclamation and many other cities have opted for reclamation. So we can think of reclamation along with mitigating measures to take care of environment aspects. We are in talks with the environment ministry on the matter.

P Vaidyanathan Iyer: What is the flip side of reclamation? What damage does it o?

I dont know why the environment ministry is opposed to reclamation. If one looks at a country such as The Netherlands,it is developed through reclamation keeping in mind the environmental concerns. We have assured the environment ministry that this reclamation is only for alignment of the road and not for real estate development. With Mumbai being highly dense and urbanised,we cannot have a pristine coastal area such as Sindhudurg or Ratnagiri. Cities should have developed sea fronts such as Marine Drive or Marina.

Sagnik Chowdhury: BMC told Bombay High Court that underground mapping is a serious concern that comes in the way of road repairs. How much are we in the dark about underground utilities?

Although there is a crucial need for utility mapping,there is no proper utility mapping done as of now. Various utilities,such as telephone,water supply and optic fibre need to be mapped. There is as much traffic below the road as there is above the road. At present,the BMC is preparing a GIS-enabled base map on which all information regarding utilities will be superimposed.

Mayura Janwalkar: The condition of roads seems to have worsened over the past 10-15 years given that there is no change in the amount of rainfall or utilities.

Earlier,there were fewer utilities but now all those networks of water supply,sewerage,stormwater drains have become old. The upgrade of these utilities is going on,for which digging of roads is needed. Also,there are lot of new utilities,such as Mahanagar Gas Ltd,Optic fibre ,telephone,power utilities and 4G. The dilemma is that while we need to allow utilities in the city,we also need better roads.

Stuti Shukla: Why is BMC reluctant to blacklist contractors for failing to fill potholes?

There are provisions to blacklist contractors. But one cannot penalise a contractor for every offence. We have been imposing fines and debarring them from contracting systems. We did blacklist one contractor but the High Court did not sustain it.

Manasi Phadke: What do you think of the quality of the work by contractors? Has it deteriorated over the past few years?

On the contractor-quality issue,we must look at the larger problem of contracting in public entities. We are governed by the BMC Act,which has just two or three sections to deal with the contracting system. I think when the Act was made,things were simpler. Today, contracting activity itself has become complex. The BMC Act does not reflect some new realities. The ideal contracting system is what the Public Procurement Bill that is tabled in Parliament talks about. That Bill effectively captures the current realities of public contracting and it has set out very good principles but it has to still come into force. If that legal mechanism is put in place that will help to fix the entire gamut of public contracting. Typically,the contractors get away with shoddy work as there are no binding obligations or penal provisions on them. The Bill seeks to plug these deficiencies.

Sharvari Patwa: While there is a stringent fine mechanism for contractors,they are awarded contracts worth Rs 100-150 crore,making the fine amounts paltry in comparison. Yes,to some extent,I agree that we should levy more fines.

Alison Saldanha: Recently 10,000 files went missing from various offices of BMC. How did this happen and what is the status of BMCs security considering this episode?

Files went missing as record-keeping in the BMC is poor. The rooms are in poor condition and many times due to the exigencies of the situation,files have been shifted from one place to another,causing such problems. We have analysed the 10,000-odd files lost and have found that 1384 of them belong to period post-1991. We have managed to trace most of these. Most of the files around 90 per cent belong to the 1960s-80s period. There are stacks of files tied up in bundles and checking those is likely to take around two months.

Sagnik Chowdhury: What are the implications of fils going missing from the BMCs building proposals department?

We have a system of classification of records. Some are kept for a year,some are kept for five,10 or 30 years while others are kept for eternity. Building proposals records have to be kept for eternity. We are supposed to have a record of nearly 1,50,000 buildings. Among those records,nearly 9,000 are missing and they belong to the 60s,70s and 80s. The lost files may still be there but somehow we have not been able to search them yet.

Shubhangi Khapre: The CM has said that more than an oversight,there could be some malafide intent behind the files going missing. What do you think?

The malafide intent part would be applicable in case of post-1991 files because a lot of discretion came into force in the post-1991 Development Control Regulations DCR. After 1991,with redevelopment and TDR coming in,a lot of discretion was given,so the issue of malafide intention in getting rid of the files could be related to that. After completing the search if we zero in on a particular sequence of files that have been systematically eliminated then those cases will call for strict investigation and penal action.

Mihika Basu: What is the status of BMCs draft policy on cellphone towers? Which aspects of the new DoT guidelines for state and civic bodies are you planning to incorporate in the BMC draft policy?

We are examining the DoT guidelines published in August. We have made a policy based on the earlier guidelines and are going to submit it to the standing committee. We will revise it when DoT publishes new guidelines but we also need approval from standing committee for levying fees and certain other things. So,we are now pushing this proposal to the standing committee. On technical parameters,we will follow DoT guidelines.

Sharvari Patwa: We recently appointed assistant engineers AEs of wards as designated officers to clamp down on illegal construction. On one side these officers complain of political pressure if they carry out their work and otherwise they are penalised. Is this an effective plan?

We deliberated on this issue. The seniormost officer in the ward,the ward officer,is the pivotal functionary of the BMC at ward level. This is a double-edged sword. Our worry was that this may expose ward officer himself and impair his ability to function in the ward. This is the reason we made an AE responsible for unauthorised construction in the ward.

Sharvari Patwa: Against the backdrop of the Vasant Sagar case,what is your view on restricting the height of buildings on Marine Drive or heritage precinct?

We have a desire to preserve heritage. On the other hand,we want to redevelop. These are two desirable objectives. These two have come into conflict particularly with the Vasant Sagar case. If we say we have to give priority to heritage,what happens to people in need of redevelopment? So this is a policy matter that needs to be taken up and this is what the state government should decide now.

Mayura Janwalkar: What is the status of the dispute with SevenHills Hospital? What is coming in the way of resolving the issue?

We had a long-pending dispute with them. The main stumbling block is that we had asked for a certain percentage of beds be made available to BMC patients,charged at municipal hospital rates. They are,however,neither admitting patients nor providing services at BMC rates. The friction has,however,reduced as they are now using the Jeevan Dayi Yojana to help foot bills of poor patients. But again,by when will be able to resolve the matter fully is a big question.

Stuti Shukla: Dont you think it is a case of a corporate giant having taken BMC for granted? They have got a large plot of land for practically a pittance.

When it was conceptualised,it seemed like a good idea. The hospital had said they would set up around 1,200 beds of which 30 per cent 400 would be reserved for BMC patients. It was like a virtual BMC hospital of 400 beds. But it did not work out as it was envisaged. So we still have a lot of learning to do as far as structuring Public Private Projects PPP projects is concerned. A World Bank study based on PPP models across the globe found that those projects that are built by the public agency and then given out for managing purpose are more successful.

Stuti Shukla: You have experience in the housing sector. Your predecessor did away with discretionary powers of the municipal commissioner. With the new Development Plan in a draft stage,what portions of the DP and DCR will be revised?

We are coming up with a new DP and DCR in which the trend of level playing field and transparency will be maintained. Discretion cannot be wished away. In case of smaller plot sizes,open space related discretion,discretion can be allowed.

Transcribed by Alison Saldanha,Sharvari Patwa amp;

Tabassum Barnagarwala