Facing all round flak, Maharashtra drops Mumbai Development Plan

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government today scrapped the controversial Mumbai Development Plan that could have shrunk the city's open spaces and led to increased congestion, in the face of stiff opposition from political parties and social activists.

The decision to shelve the Development Plan 2034 was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to prepare a fresh plan within four months.

The government was facing criticism from various quarters over the alleged flaws in the plan with activists saying it was prepared disregarding concerns about the heritage structures in south Mumbai.

The DP had proposed a considerable hike in Floor Space Index (FSI), ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built, and also opened up the so far protected south Mumbai for utilisation of transfer of development rights (TDR) as floating FSI. This would have meant more construction activity in the area.

The overall increase in bulk FSI was linked to proximity to mass transit modes but not indexed to provision of physical and social infrastructure. Activists had claimed it would increase congestion in already crowded areas like Andheri and Dadar. Some activists alleged it was intended to benefit the builders lobby.

They also contended that reduction in open space requirement to 10 per cent from 15 per cent also went against earlier Supreme Court rulings on open spaces.

Though higher FSI would have, to some extent, addressed the city's rapidly growing housing needs, annual hikes in ready reckoner rates and costlier TDR could have increased costs for developers.