Indian Express 25.01.2010
Buy-or-leave policy for vacant land tenancy plots
MARKET RATES ONLY : BMC wants to sell small plots, rent out large ones
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to offer its smaller VLT (vacant land tenancy) plots on sale to the occupants; if the occupants cannot pay at market rates, they will have to leave.
Under a new proposed policy, the VLT larger plots (over 300 sq m) will remain on rent, but at market rates “instead of the nominal sum paid at present”, a civic official said.
“Plots less than 300 sq m are too small to construct on, but we need to retain the larger parcels and get rent at market rates from those occupying it,” said a senior civic official.
Most of the VLT plots are in the island city, mainly stretching from Parel to Sion, and are worth over Rs 2,000 crore even by conservative estimates.
“Currently the BMC earns a measly rent of Rs 3.5 lakh annually from all these plots together. Land in Mumbai will soon get exhausted and the BMC will not be left with any for its projects,” the official said.
All plots reserved under the Development Plan for purposes like roads and open spaces would also revert to the BMC, irrespective of their size, he said. The policy will be implemented once the corporation clears it.
Before Independence, much of the land on the fringes of Mumbai, then only the island city, was given to the homeless under a legally binding deed. The BMC gave it for short tenures; the occupants could be asked to vacate with a 15-day notice. Some of it was also used to relocate people affected by infrastructure projects, or even for commercial purposes
The city has 3,472 such plots totalling 2.95 lakh sq m, mostly in Parel, Dadar, Mahim and Sion, with some patches further north in areas like Jogeshwari.
“Much of the land was marshy, as in the case of Kumbharwada in Dharavi which was given to the potters’ community when they were required to shift from Pydhonie. Though the BMC stopped giving land under the VLT Act in the 1970s, the land continued to be occupied by tenants due to to the Rent Control Act which give security to tenants staying for a long time on a specific property,” said Pankaj Joshi, executive director of the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI).
