Mumbaikars, you can now suggest ideas for your city's development
What's the story
Mark the date: June 21. That's the last day for submitting your suggestions and objections concerning specific portions of Mumbai's Development Plan-2034 (DP-2034).
CM Devendra Fadnavis approved the much-awaited DP-2034 in April.
The plan sketches out how Mumbai's land will be utilized in the next two decades.
Affordable housing, slum rehabilitation, parking slots, and redevelopment of dilapidated buildings are some options being considered.
Details
Citizens' suggestions sought for provisions that will have demographic impact
The portion of the DP-2034 where citizens' feedback is asked for is called the Excluded part (EP).
The other part of the plan, Sanctioned Part, as the name suggests, is ready for implementation.
The EP has newly-introduced provisions, which are likely to impact a large demographic.
The increasing allowance of floor space index (FSI) is one such topic that has been included in EP.
Results
FSI increase would impact old structures, prove expensive to some
FSI is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the plot of land upon which it's built.
That means if FSI is 1.5 for a plot of 1,000sqft, its total area cannot exceed 1,500sqft.
Increasing FSI is likely to affect old structures and also prove to be expensive for the construction of hospitals and educational institutions.
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Currently, FSI is limited in residential and commercial areas: Activist
"FSI is limited in South Mumbai and other areas of the city. But according to DP, if there is a plot larger than 3,000 square meters above a small road, then it can get 5 FSI," said Mitesh Prajapati of Citizen Civic Solutions Foundation.
Construction rise
After June 21, realty sector might get a boost
After June 21, the state government's approval will be sought.
The realty sector might get a boost then, because 3,700-hectares of public and private land will get unlocked for them.
Out of that, 2,100 hectares will be used for building 10L affordable homes. Along with that, 330 hectares of salt pan land would also be used, which has already drawn the ire of environmentalists.
Worries
Citizen groups, NGOs have already raised concerns about DP-2034
Citizen groups, NGOs and activists have already raised concerns about DP-2034, saying that this will allow "exploitation of public land and give away open spaces to private entities."
They said the provisions are complex and lack clarity on standards for high-rises and open spaces.
Also, since the plan hasn't yet been uploaded on BMC's app, it's getting difficult for the citizens to review it.
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"Once DP is implemented, high-rise buildings would sprout like mushrooms"
"If the new DP is implemented, it'll not be surprising to find high-rise buildings suddenly coming up in the already congested and infrastructure-challenged corners of the city," said Prajapati. He also warned that this will pave way for more crimes, accidents and scarcity of water.