Corporators want tighter laws against slum encroachments
After various reserved grounds of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation turned into slum encroachments, the Improvements Committee on Wednesday asked the civic body to present a report of all the purchase notices of reserved grounds that BMC has bought and their current status of use.
The corporators demanded a tighter policy against slum encroachments in reserved spaces. The committee on Wednesday postponed a purchase notice issue of a RG plot in Vile Parle. “The owner of the plot Parin Corporation which had bought the plot for Rs 50-60 lakh is now demanding a price of over Rs 3 crore for the same plot,” said Manoj Kotak, BJP corporator and Improvements Committee Chairman.
“The BMC has been spending crores on buying back purchase notice of reserved open spaces and later these are being misused and not available to the public,” said Kotak. According to corporators, the BMC has been spending lot of money to acquire open spaces but when they were marked as reserved spaces in the Development Plan (DP), slum enroachments on these spaces make them unfit for public use. “In some cases, these open spaces are acquired by BMC and due to their negligence gives rise to slums which then become a permanent feature,” said Dharmesh Vyas Congress Corporator and improvement committee member.
Meanwhile, corporators lashed out at the civic administration for their active participation in encouraging slum encroachments on reserved grounds.
“The ward officers and local engineers of BMC are aware of the slum encroachments and yet they do not take any action,” said Vidya Chavan, NCP corporator and improvement committee member. “The ward level officers, police, all encourage these things and everything happens in front of their eyes,” said Chavan.
“Since the administration gives a blind eye to corporators who fight against slum enroachments, we should meet the Municipal Commissioner and demand a stricter policy against it,” said Mangesh Sangale, MNS corporator and Improvement Committee member.