Latest news with #DevelopmentPlan
Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
CMO directs BMC to complete land acquisition for Phase 2 of coastal road within 15 days
The chief minister's office has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to complete the land acquisition for the Phase 2 of the Mumbai Coastal Road project within the next 15 days. For the said project, the BMC has to reclaim 165 hectares of land between Versova and Bhayander in the western suburbs and north Mumbai. In a review meeting held on Friday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also stressed that the project needs to be completed by 2028. Civic officials said that of the total land parcels that need to be acquired, 80% are government lands. 'Many of these lands belong to the fisheries department and revenue department. The proposal for transferring the lands have already been raised with the respective departments. On Friday's meeting it was decided that the ownership of these lands should be transferred to the BMC in the next 15 days for the coastal road project and we will be following up with respective departments,' an official told the Indian Express. 'The parcels mostly include mangrove patches and marshy lands. There will be no reclamation of the sea unlike the first phase of the project,' the official said. The civic officials maintained that the process of changing the reservation of these lands have already been initiated. In Mumbai, vacant land parcels are reserved under the BMC's Development Plan (2034) model. These reservations are made so that the land parcels are earmarked for utilising them for public amenities in the future. In case the said land parcel falls in the alignment of any infrastructure or government project, their reservations are being changed in order to assimilate them for the said project. As part of this project, nearly 60 plots between Goregaon and Dahisar will undergo change of reservation. It was also decided in the meeting that the periphery around the coastal road will be transformed into a modern commercial hub on the lines of the present day Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The CMO also stated that adequate compensatory plantation of the mangroves should also need to be carried out simultaneously as the construction of the project begins. 'We have acquired the coastal clearances and Union ministry's clearance for this project. After the forest permissions come through, we will approach the Bombay High Court seeking permission to cut mangroves,' the official said. The proposed second phase of the coastal road has been divided into six different packages. Package A will cover 4.5 km between Versova and Bangur Nagar (Goregaon), Package B will cover 1.66 km between Bangur Nagar and Mindspace (Malad). The packages C and D will include twin tunnels–3.9 km long–connecting Mindspace at Malad with Charkop in Kandivali. Package E will be 3.78 km, connecting Charkop with Gorai and the final Package F will be 3.69 km which will connect Gorai with Dahisar. From Dahisar, the civic authorities are constructing another 5.6 km elevated corridor that will extend till Bhayander at Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The overall project will be 25 km long and the total cost of these two projects have been pegged at Rs 20,000 crore. The BMC last year had secured environmental clearances for going ahead with the project and the on-groundwork started this year. The phase two of the coastal road will be a series of underground tunnels, cable-stayed bridge and vehicular interchanges that will improve north-south connectivity. The coastal road will also provide connectivity with the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR), an east-west connector that is also being constructed by the Mumbai civic body.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
After CM cancels PCMC's abattoir plan near Alandi, MP Barne demands scrapping of entire draft DP
DAYS after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) plan to build a slaughterhouse near the temple town of Alandi, MP Shrirang Barne on Wednesday called for scrapping the entire draft Development Plan (DP) prepared by the DP Unit department. Barne accused members of the DP Unit department of preparing the draft DP without conducting any proper survey. 'The chief minister has done the right thing by scrapping the slaughterhouse plan. The reservation for the slaughterhouse plan was made by the DP Unit department. I think the CM should cancel the entire draft DP,' Barne told The Indian Express. Barne said it is difficult to believe the DP Unit department planned a slaughterhouse near Alandi. 'Alandi has religious and spiritual significance for every Maharashtrian. It's a place of great importance for the 'Marathi Manoos'. Yet, the DP Unit department made reservation for a slaughterhouse close to the temple town,' he said. He added that he has gone through some of the reservations made by the department in the draft DP. 'It seems they have not applied their mind properly. Slaughterhouse, burial grounds and cemeteries have been reserved at wrong places. Several reservations are bound to trigger protests across the city. I think the DP Unit department made the reservations without actually visiting the spots and surveying the areas,' he said. Citing instances, Barne said in areas like Kalewadi and Thergaon, the DP Unit has made reservations where there are residential houses. The Maval MP said he will file objections to the DP and take it up with the CM. 'I will write to the chief minister to scrap the entire draft DP,' he said. Barne said PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh and Town Planning officials cannot escape responsibility. 'The municipal commissioner has signed the draft DP and uploaded it on the PCMC website. Town Planning officials have also signed the draft DP. They took should be held responsible,' he said. Last week, the municipal commissioner told this paper that the civic administration has no role to play in the preparations of the draft DP. He said the draft DP was prepared by the DP Unit. When contacted, Anupama Kulkarni, who heads the DP Unit, said, 'The draft DP is not the final document. There is a long process before the DP is finalised.' 'We conducted proper survey before preparing the draft DP,' she said while refusing to take further questions. Echoing the views of Barne, civic activist Sarang Kamtekar said, 'The draft DP shows there was lack of coordination between the PCMC and the DP Unit. Ideally, the DP Unit should have first consulted and discussed the reservation issue with PCMC officials. They should have conducted a wide range of discussions with those who know the city well. It could be people's representatives or could be long-time residents and activists of Pimpri-Chinchwad. It seems the DP Unit members who are state government employees and have nothing to do with Pimpri-Chinchwad have whimsically made reservations.' 'In Pimpri area where the Sindhi community has been doing business for several decades is sought to be displaced by the draft DP,' he said. Another activist Avinash Chilekar said, 'If the draft DP is approved by the state government, it will cause havoc in the industrial city. Thousands of houses will have to make way for so-called development. Any development that will resettle a city and disturb the lives of people is of no use. Development activities should ensure the progress of the people. It should not throw their lives in disarray.' Seema Sawale, former PCMC standing committee chairperson, who had first raised the issue of slaughterhouse plan near Alandi, said, 'Now it has come to light that they have made reservations for a police station, a bus depot and other things in around Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue in Pimpri. The place is sacred for lakhs of Ambedkarite. As a former PCMC panel chief, I am going to register my complaint with the CM and demand the scrapping of the entire draft DP,' she said. Marathi actor Sandeep Sakore said, 'It's not a draft DP but an anti-Development Plan. If one goes through the draft DP reservations, it makes one wonder whether the DP Unit members have carefully studied the terrain and topography of the PCMC or not. Have they even gone to the spots to see for themselves what Pimpri-Chinchwad actually is all about. I agree with the views of the Maval MP that the entire draft DP should be cancelled by the state government.' Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
30 acres de-reserved for new Mumbai high court complex
MUMBAI: In order to facilitate the construction of the new integrated Bombay high court (HC) on a 30-acre plot in the government colony in Bandra East, the state government has begun the process of deleting existing reservations, mentioned in the Development Plan (DP) 2034. The space was reserved for a cultural centre, government staff quarters, a playground, garden, electric transmission centre, a police station, facilities for policemen, water pumping station, public utility building, BEST bus shelters, a public hall, government offices and roads. The government has already handed over 9.64 acres for the new construction. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times) Alongside, residents of Gautam Nagar and Kamla Nagar slums – spread over 4.09 acres -- in the colony will be moved to Malad East and Kandivali, and the vacated land parcel (part of the 30-acre plot) will be used for the new construction, in six phases. The state cabinet cleared the proposal to shift the slum dwellers on Tuesday and stated that the process will be completed in a few months. The entire government colony is spread over 90 acres. A top bureaucrat, who did not wish to be named, told HT, the de-reservation was necessary 'to avoid possible litigations by slum dwellers and encroachers in the future'. Presently, there are 254 tenements in the twin neighbourhoods, of which 138 are used for commercial enterprises and 116 are residences. The officer said that the move was necessary since the 'Public Works Department (PWD), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the police failed to check the growth of the slums'. For the de-reservation, a steering committee was appointed a year ago under the principal secretary of urban development department (UDD), along with officers from PWD, BMC, and the state chief architect, to put down the steps to de-reserve the land. The process of de-reservation has started, and a notification to this effect was issued on June 20. The first PIL, to call attention to the space crunch in the existing premises of the court, was filed in HC in 2014, which was followed by similar PILs filed by several others. The government has already handed over 9.64 acres for the new construction. The colony has 370 two- and three-storeyed buildings for government employees. They are being pulled down and employees shifted to newly constructed 16 storeyed towers within the colony. At the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, a minister brought up the issue of ownership of houses for employees post-retirement, referencing retired policemen getting ownership of homes in BDD chawl in the precinct. While both Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) have been backing the employees in their cause, the government has looked the other way. Seventy five courtrooms in addition to residences for judges, staff quarters, an arbitration and mediation centre, an auditorium, a library and amenities for staff, lawyers and litigants have been planned in the integrated complex. Architect Hafeez Contractor was recently appointed to design the new integrated building and the network of roads connecting it to the larger suburb.
Time of India
4 days ago
- General
- Time of India
PCMC's proposal to build STP on part of Chikhali cemetery land gets state nod
Pune: The state cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal submitted by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to use 1.75 hectares of land — part of a plot originally reserved for a cemetery in Chikhali — for the construction of a sewage treatment plant (STP). A senior PCMC official stated that the cabinet's approval will enable the civic body to commence work on the STP immediately, which is crucial to prevent untreated sewage from entering the Indrayani River. According to civic officials, approximately 40% of the land originally designated for the cemetery will now be utilised for the STP, while the remaining portion will be reserved for burial purposes. The proposed STP will have a treatment capacity of 20 million litres per day (MLD). PCMC has planned four such STPs in the Chikhali area, all along the banks of the Indrayani River. You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune An official from PCMC's environment department said the proposal was submitted to the state govt earlier this year, and a reservation for the plant was also included in the draft of the revised Development Plan (DP). "However, now that we have received the state's approval, we will not wait for the DP's final clearance and will start the work immediately," the official said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Поза во сне может многое рассказать о вашем характере! Удивительные Новости Undo The Indrayani River holds religious significance among warkaris (devotees), as it flows past the Sant Tukaram Maharaj Temple in Dehu and the Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Temple in Alandi — both major pilgrim sites. Religious groups and devotees have frequently raised concerns about increasing pollution in the river. Environmental activists have also highlighted whenever thick layers of white foam appeared on the river's surface, a sight that has become increasingly common. During a recent visit to Alandi, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis acknowledged these concerns and stressed the need for a strong network of STPs along the Indrayani River. He assured the state govt is working closely with local bodies to address the issue.
Edinburgh Live
5 days ago
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Plans for Edinburgh garages to be demolished for student housing development
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info New plans to demolish Edinburgh garages and industrial buildings for student accommodation have been submitted after proposals were withdrawn by the applicant last year. In April 2024 we reported how the development, on Ratcliffe Terrace, was recommended to be refused by planning officers as the application was subsequently withdrawn by SDR Property Developments Ltd. The firm has since returned with a new application covering 27-29 and 31 Ratcliffe Terrace as well as 4 South Gray Street. The development would see existing buildings, including a motor repair shop and a laser imaging equipment shop, demolished to make way for three blocks of student flats. It also includes associated cycle parking, landscaping and access arrangements as the three blocks would be linked through a series of communal outdoor courtyards, providing a pedestrian link between South Gray Street and Ratcliffe Terrace. The previous application proposed a block of 59 student beds. However, planning officers said the development would "fail to accord with the Development Plan and associated guidance." The site consists of four industrial buildings and a stonemasons yard to the rear. The two and a half-storey building on Ratcliffe Terrace is currently used as office space and three others are industrial, occupied by Causeways Garage. The newly submitted plans include a total of 66 student flats comprising a mix of 8 per cent studios and 92 per cent cluster units. Four of those would be accessible and the cluster units range from four-six bedrooms. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community hereand get the latest news sent straight to your messages. The existing buildings on the site would be demolished and a five storey block fronting Ratcliffe Terrace would be built. The block to the rear would be four-storeys in height. The main entrance would be located on Ratcliffe Terrace and the proposed development consists of external and internal shared amenity space on ground floor level. An external roof terrace is also proposed at site B, located on the rear block. Amenity space indoors would include a reception and student lounge, with another area located to the rear of the site facing onto an external courtyard acting as a games hub and lounge. A detailed planning statement concludes: "With the aid of a suite of supporting documents the Planning Statement has assessed the application against the Development Plan in accordance with Section 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended) and found the application to be in accordance. "The Design Statement submitted with this application addresses the design narrative and solution and should be read in conjunction with this Statement.6.4 The proposed development represents a high quality, innovative and respectful proposal for the redevelopment of a brownfield site which is compliant both with the Development Plan and other material considerations." The full application and supporting documents can be found here.
