Fadnavis govt altering city plans to help builders: Nirupam

The Congress' Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam today accused the state government of altering the city's proposed development plan to help builders close to the chief minister.

Nirupam, in a statement issued here, said that he was worried about the real motives of the government.

Earlier CM Devendra Fadnavis had said that the Development Plan (DP) for the city would be released this month.

"On Wednesday, Fadnavis had told the Legislative Assembly that height restrictions had impacted the viability of redevelopment projects in Mumbai airport's funnel zone (airspace around an airport where height of buildings is restricted to provide a safe flight path to ascending and descending aircraft)," Nirupam said.

"In what could be windfall gains for builders, Fadnavis said provision of conferring additional building rights in the form of transferable development rights (TDR) or additional floor space index (FSI) and relaxation in town planning norms were being considered," Nirupam said.

The rules of the Development Control Regulations are being altered to help a lobby of builders close to the CM, Nirupam alleged.

He alleged that a Rs 4,500 crore construction plan of a particular builder, who is also part of the ruling party, was stuck as it was facing height restrictions because of the airport's funnel zone.

"The builder is pressurising the government and the changes in the DCR rules are being made just to help this builder and others who are part of this nexus," Nirupam said.

Nirupam said that the High Court had put a embargo on redevelopment in the funnel zone as the civic body was unable to come up with a plan for solid waste management there.

He alleged that instead of working on an alternative plan, the state government was busy pandering to the builders' lobby at the cost of the residents of the city.