THANE: The General Body House of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) came into a serious dilemma over its attitude towards a proposed amendment in the Maharastra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act 1966. The General Body, however, criticised the designated officer for not reaching out to the public in a proper manner on the subject.
The subject came up for discussion before the General Body House of June 23. The civic administration placed a resolution before the House seeking its reaction to the proposed changes in the act. The administration sought suggestions and objections from the House to send it to the state government for its final decision.
The members alleged that the civic administration had placed the same resolution before the House of February 16 this year and valuable suggestions and objections were given on it. The subject however remained incomplete on the day. Subsequently, the Model Code of Conduct guidelines in the wake of the recently concluded parliamentary elections prevented the TMC from holding General Body meeting till recently.
It was alleged that Prabhuraj Nimbargi, the civic secretary, deliberately withheld the discussions of the February meeting and placed the same resolution as it is on the floor of the June 23 House. Mayor Smita Indulkar also came under fire for overlooking the blunder while allowing the subjects on the agenda to be finalised.
Nandkumar Jantre, the Municipal Commissioner, sought to explain the situation and informed the House that the state had already decided to amend sections 65 and 68 of the Act. It had also appointed Deputy Director of Town Planning, Konkan Division, to give a hearing on the subject. The appointed official issued an advertisement in a section of the media to invite suggestions and objections from the masses.
The official also sought the reaction from the TMC House and the current resolution was to get its reaction. Jantre also stressed that if the House does not give its reaction then the official would deem that the TMC has nothing to say in this regard and would proceed with the subject on the grounds that the TMC has nothing to say in this regard. The reply, however, did not deter the members from their earlier stand.
It may be noted that the state had offered to amend the two sections of the act. The amendment is to allow the use of plot of land reserved for a specified purpose under a Draft Development Plan (DDP) to be used for other purposes. The step is needed to make proper use of the reserved plots of land.
The TMC will also be positively affected by the changes. The corporation had reserved around 44 hectares plot of land at Majiwada for a town center. The reservation included reservations for MRTS depot along with other allied facilities. A reservation on around 14 hectares of land at Dhokali was also made for the setting up of district center.
The corporation was unable to use the land for the purpose for which they wee declared reserved under the civic DDP of 1999 and amended DDP of 2003. the TMC had sought the state government to allow it to change the civic Development Control Rules (DCR) 1996 to allow the use of reserved land for other public purposes.
courtesy:www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
