With the citizens’ groups pointing out a slew of discrepancies in the Existing Land Use (ELU) maps prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the process of finalising the new Development Plan (DP) of the city may get delayed again.
The deadline to send in the suggestion objections on the ELU has been already revised from January 10 to 24. But the citizens groups have now demanded that another extension should be given so that they can scrutinise maps ward-wise.
According to the civic officials, the draft of the final DP plan for the next 20 years was to be ready by October. It will then be put out for suggestions and objections. “Though we are trying hard to keep up with the deadline, DP may not be ready in the stipulated time as we have to take cognisance of suggestions raised by citizens groups. So far we have received 550 suggestions and objections on this issue,” said chief engineer, Development Plan Rajiv Kuknoor.
On Thursday, the citizens groups presented their views on the proposed DP draft. According to citizen’s groups, the errors in ELU range from not mapping entire villages to coastal villages and informal settlements being mapped erroneously. There are also mistakes in marking communities as slum clusters and residential. The ELU survey has also left out many amenities and social infrastructure that should have been mapped. Several dispensaries, libraries and other forms of social amenities have also been left out of the ELU, thus leaving such amenities open to manipulation in the coming DP.
“The playgrounds, civic schools, civic hospitals within these special planning authorities are governed by civic rules
then why not map them also?” said Vidya Vaidya, an activist from Bandra.
“If there is any error, it’s best that its detected and eliminated at the primary stage of making the development plan,” said civic standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale.