Maha govt stops mill land use

The Maharashtra government has issued an order that puts a halt to development of mill in Mumbai, unless the chawls on the land are suitably compensated.

The state urban development ministry, headed by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, issued an order saying, "Permission should not be given by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to development plans of mill land unless it includes the rehabilitation of chawls adjacent to the mill lands."

According to the order, which comes into effect from June 14, the developer is bound to give a 225 sq ft flat to each tenement holder as of January 1, 2000.

The state government's order is likely to stall 30 million sq ft of development across both NTC and privately owned mill land that is currently coming up in the mill area, valued at Rs 15,000 crore.

These developments include the five mills NTC sold to private developers including India Bulls (Elphinstone and Jupiter Mills) and DLF (Mumbai Mills).