Land allotment for helipad cancelled

MUMBAI, January 12: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has cancelled the allotment of a prime piece of land in South Mumbai to a leading builder f...

MUMBAI, January 12: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has cancelled the allotment of a prime piece of land in South Mumbai to a leading builder for constructing a helipad for the VVIPs. The decision was taken in the first meeting of Raj Mudra, the special desk set up by the Sena-BJP government for taking on the spot decisions on pending files.

“Joshi has asked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to revoke the Letter of Intent granted to Akruti Nirman Private Limited as the proposal was not approved by the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) and was also without the knowledge of the Urban Development Department headed by the Chief Minister,” a senior official told The Indian Express.Besides Joshi, the meeting of Raj Mudra, set up on January 1, was also attended by Chief Secretary P Subramanian, Industries Secretary Yeshwant Bhave, MIDC Chief Executive Officer Ram Krishna, Urban Development Secretary K Nalinakshan and Mumbai Collector Vijay Kumar Gautam.

In fact, Joshi was surprisedover the manner in which the proposal was dealt by the MIDC. Though it was the responsibility of MIDC to execute the project, it was improper on its part to grant a Letter of Intent without the prior approval of the Urban Development Department. “Any proposal involving rehabilitation or shifting of slums has to be approved by the Chief Minister. However, MIDC failed to move the file through proper channel,” the official pointed out.

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The alliance government had identified a plot admeasuring 8,000 sq mtrs at Cuffe Parade near Backbay bus depot for construction of a helipad as an alternative mode of transport for VIPs. Accordingly, the plot, encroached by slumdwellers, was handed over to MIDC for construction and maintenance of helipad.

The MIDC however failed to rehabilitate the slumdwellers as many of them were protected by the government’s policy to provide them free houses and hence it decided to hand over the plot to Akruti Nirman Private Limited almost free of cost for executing the project.

Its only responsibility being to rehabilitate the 400 and odd slumdwellers on the plot and construct a helipad there. There was strong criticism of MIDC’s decision as it was felt that it will help the builder garner huge profit from the deal. “He will utilise less than one lakh sq ft area for rehabilitation of slumdwellers and an equal area for construction of the helipad, while the remaining area – more than 1.50 lakh sq ft, will be free for commercial exploitation,” the official said. Apparently, the MIDC took the decision to save Rs 40 crore required for construction of a helipad for the VIPs.

At the meeting of the Raj Mudra, Joshi directed the Housing Dept to provide alternate sites to 109 slumdwellers, who qualify for the free housing scheme, while the remaining hutments would be demolished after the Budget Session of the State Legislature.