Hindustan Times 25.11.2010
BMC to decide on purchase of recreational ground plot today
The opposition in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been putting pressure on mayor Shraddha Jadhav to take up this issue before the date of the purchase notice lapses on December 3.
The BMC was served a purchase notice for the plot measuring 7,441 sq m on December 4 last year, by the Juhu Vile Parle Development Cooperative Housing Association, a group of 14 housing societies that have held the plots since 1960.
Municipal commissioner, Swadheen Kshatriya said they have written to the state government asking them to guide the BMC in the way these plots should be acquired at minimal cost. “These plots are for public use and so we should get them in concessional rates,” Kshatriya said.
The BMC now needs to buy these plots before their reservation lapses in order to keep them reserved as public spaces. If the civic body does not purchase the plot in time, the plot owner can take the plot back according to the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, section 127.
There is another plot in Juhu that the BMC needs to purchase which has been reserved for an international library. However, the deadline to purchase this 2,980 sq m plot worth Rs 18 crore is February 18 next year.
