The Hindu 18.04.2013
Chavan firm on razing illegal structures
In wake of the building collapse in Maharashtra’s Thane
district killing 74 people, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan
on Wednesday firmly said there would be no stay on the demolition of
illegal buildings declared as dangerous in Thane
Instead,
residents living in such buildings would be offered alternate
accommodations in rental homes built in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
(MMR), said Mr. Chavan, speaking in the Assembly.
“The
drive to raze 57 such buildings marked ‘extremely dangerous’ is on as
planned. There are 1,097 such structures that need to be razed. It would
be wrong to stop the demolition of illegal buildings since an incident
like the Mumbra collapse can recur. Who will take the responsibility
then?” asked Mr. Chavan.
The Chief Minister refused
to accede to the demands of a section of legislators cutting across
party lines demanding a stay on the soon-to-be carried out demolition
drives.
Rebuking the government for its ‘delayed
response’ in awakening to the problem of illegal structures, Thane
legislators Eknath Shinde, Rajan Vichare (from the Shiv Sena) and
Jitendra Awhad (from the Nationalist Congress Party) demanded that the
drives be immediately stopped and that the illegal structures be
‘regularised’.
Mr. Chavan said those dislocated would
be housed in the 3,700 rental homes already constructed under the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) rental
housing scheme. He also announced that illegal buildings in Thane and
the MMR would now be included under the cluster redevelopment model as a
long-term for the housing imbroglio.
The other
temporary accommodation option the government is considering is creating
large transit camps. The State government would amend the Maharashtra
Region and town Planning Act to introduce development control rules for
such a policy, Mr. Chavan admitted.
The existing
cluster redevelopment scheme applicable here under Development Control
Rule 33 (9) envisages an incentive Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4 to
ensure the integrated development of a locality.
However, none of the cluster projects here have taken off so far
Mr.
Chavan said amendments to the city’s cluster redevelopment scheme would
be announced first after which a separate policy for MMR would be
drafted. He said has not yet been decided whether FSI of 4 would be
offered under this scheme in MMR.
The Congress, the
NCP and the Shiv Sena have called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Thane
in protest against the drive. However, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief
Raj Thackeray, while opposing the bandh has demanded stern action on
contractors responsible for building illegal structures in Thane.
“The
MNS will not participate in the bandh as no action has been taken
against the real culprits so far. If MNS corporators are found guilty of
building illegal structures, action should be taken against them as
well,” he said.