Mumbaikars Fear Environmental Collapse, Builder Favouritism If Reserved Open Spaces Are Used For Slum Rehab
Mumbai: As the Bombay High Court dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the state’s policy to allow slum rehabilitation projects on reserved open spaces, citizens said that construction on places reserved as open spaces under the developed plan will result in additional concretisation of the already concretised city. Citizens are also afraid that such developments will become opportunities for land grabbing nexuses to make more money.
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court, while hearing a PIL filed by NGO Alliance for Governance and Renewal (NAGAR), upheld the legality of a state policy permitting slum rehabilitation projects on open spaces reserved for public amenities like parks and playgrounds, provided that a minimum of 35% of such plots is preserved as continuous, publicly accessible green space.
While the court issued a series of stringent directions to ensure that the policy does not become a tool for indiscriminate construction, citizens believe that the decision will result in worsening of the city’s environmental conditions. Citizens expressed resentment saying that the city is already concretised and this policy will choke the bare minimum breathing space available for Mumbaikars.
Laura Dsouza, president of Cuffe Parade Residents’ Association (CPRA), said that the policy awards the encroachers and punishes the taxpayers. She claimed that the recent heatwave in Mumbai did not affect much in Colaba and Cuffe Parade only because of the maintained open spaces and tree cover. She said that giving away open spaces for slum rehabilitation will not solve the issue of slums as it will allow a new batch of people to occupy the slums.
“The buildings in Colaba and Cuffe Parade are very old and do not have amenities like the new luxury projects of Mumbai due to which the new generation does not want to live here. We only have these parks and playgrounds to make the area liveable, which now the government wants to take away. The slum dwellers also deserve good homes but not at the cost of these public amenities meant for everyone,” she said.
Citizens raised concerns against this policy, alleging that it would provide new opportunities for land encroachers to illegally grab the land under the guise of slum rehabilitation projects. They also questioned why reserved spaces should be given away to builders while they already receive incentives for constructing slum rehabilitation projects.
Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of Chandivali Citizens’ Welfare Association (CCWA), said, “Even the footpaths are not spared in Mumbai, when it comes to encroachments. In Chandivali, we have seen public amenities plots turning into offices of politicians. This policy will give more opportunities to the builder-politician nexus to grab public land and make plenty of money. This policy, if implemented, will deteriorate the quality of life in Mumbai.”
The reservation of land for public amenities like parks, playgrounds and schools is decided under the Development Plan (DP) department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Citizens said that the civic body should not invest its time and efforts in planning reservations for the upcoming times if they are ultimately to be unreserved for constructions.
Voice of Kalina, an advance locality management (ALM), had met the member of parliament of the Mumbai North Central constituency earlier this week and raised their concerns regarding the Accommodation Reservation Policy, 2016, through which the reservations are changed and given away for commercial projects.
Clarence Pinto, a member of the ALM, said that a plot reserved for an extension of the municipal market in Kalina was unreserved and given away for the construction of an eight-storeyed building. “After years of efforts, resources and time invested into planning reservations, when the reservations are changed, the purpose of DP is lost. This is a gimmick to favour the builders as the authorities seem to be making a joke of everything.”
Chetan Kamble, founder of Chakachak Dadar, said, “The legality of the policy must not override environmental sanity. Preserving just 35% of open spaces is woefully inadequate in a city choking due to climate distress. Mumbai has already witnessed the deadly impacts of flooding, heatwaves and vanishing tree covers, all worsened by unbridled development. The state must rethink and revise this policy before we trade the last of our public greens for irreversible environmental collapse.”
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