There is good news and bad news for the people of Navi Mumbai who have been staying in dilapidated buildings which have been long declared unfit for habitation.
The good news is that The Navi Mumbai municipal corporation (NCP) General body meeting passed the proposal to hike the redevelopment FSI of Navi Mumbai to 2.5 for dilapidated structures and an FSI of 4 for gaothan areas and chawls.
This proposal has been hanging since 2009 and assumed larger proportions when elections are near. People of Navi Mumbai have been misled by false promises and announcements in the past. But this time the NMMC claims to have prepared a ‘fool proof’ plan prepared by none other than CRISIL.
If successful, the proposal will immediately affect more than 70 structures which have been declared unsafe.
Now for the bad news
The proposal will now go to the Urban development department of the Govt of Maharashtra, where it will be studied and its fate decided. Laws and rules regarding FSI and Development are passed in State Assembly and published in the State Govt Gazette via a Notification.
Without a Gazette Notification, even a million resolutions passed in Municipal Corporation will have Zero Effect.
The Motive behind passing this ‘resolution’ is pure fakery and deceit to fool the ignorant people who have zero knowledge about laws and procedures.
Redevelopment : The toughest nut to crack
Although redevelopment is already a tough procedure, it becomes all the more tougher as most of the CIDCO building inhabitants do not have proper ownership documents and most have \’purchased\’ the flats via Power of attorney as the sale of these flats/houses was forbidden by CIDCO for a few years after allotment. To bypass this ban, allottees often sold their flats via Power of attorneys. Most buildings have still not formed co0p housing societies and many have not paid property taxes. Most don\’t have conveyance.
For redevelopment to succeed, all these documents have to be in order.
In order to get these in order, an expense of a few lakhs cannot be ruled out.
Its anybody\’s guess as to how many residents of these low income colonies are ready to shell out that kind of cash to get their papers in order.
Until an outcome for these problems is found, redevelopment is a distant dream for most of Navi Mumbai, the approval of the Urban Development Ministry not withstanding.
