Author: Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 6, 2011
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/06/stories/2011050669232400.htm
In a setback to the former Maharashtra Chief
Minister, Ashok Chavan, the Maharashtra government has suspended operations
on two letters of intent issued to builders for slum redevelopment projects
in Mumbai's suburbs.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan
told The Hindu on Thursday that he had suspended operations on these two projects
approved under section 3 K of the Slum Act, which had several irregularities.
The two projects are located in Malad and Chembur and envisage cluster development
of 51.34 hectares in Malvani, Malad and 27.22 hectares in Chembur. While these
two projects were approved in October last year, the letters of intent were
issued on the last day of Mr. Ashok Chavan's tenure on November 11, 2010 and
the approval letter bore the signature of at least seven officials on a single
day.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit
Somaiya has filed a public interest litigation against six such projects approved
under 3 K, five of them in the tenure of Mr. Ashok Chavan and one earlier
when Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister. Mr. Somaiya had produced documents
to prove that the two projects were given final approval on the day the new
Chief Minister took over on November 11, 2010. He said there was no bidding,
no transparency and the allotment was done based on a rarely used provision
in the Slum Act - clause 3 (k), under which a builder who lays claims first
to slum land can redevelop it. The danger in this is that the credentials
of the builder are not verified and neither is consent of the people mandatory.
Usually for redevelopment the builder has to obtain the consent of 70 per
cent of the slum-dwellers.
Mr. Prithviraj Chavan said that the projects
were envisaged as cluster development projects for townships. It could not
be given to single builders as was the case. Moreover, the land allotted was
125 acres, in one case, more than the 100 acres which was set as a limit for
the projects. It was strange that a concept for a township should be given
to a single builder, the Chief Minister said. Mr. Chavan said he had inquired
into the projects after the State Legislature session ended and decided to
take action. The cluster development policy which was decided in 2008 has
come up for criticism since it gave away land to private builders in the name
of slum development.
Mr. Somaiya said that the Congress-led government
had gifted away six slum redevelopment projects to builders in a dubious manner
which could yield profits of over Rs. 50,000 crore once the projects came
up.
Calling it the equivalent of the 2G scam in
Maharashtra, Mr. Somaiya armed with 1000 pages of documents and proof, charged
Mr. Ashok Chavan with gifting these six projects just before his tenure ended
last year. The total area of six slum redevelopment projects was 235 lakh
square feet and the land value was Rs. 6652 crore. The government has not
only approved these projects but the builders have also paid up the premiums.
One of the builders only had a paid-up capital of Rs. 15 lakh and yet it deposited
Rs. 53 crore to the government once the project was approved, he said. Mr.
Somaiya said the source of the money for these projects must be investigated.
