While the last date to submit objections and suggestions on the development plan of Navi Mumbai for the next 20 years will get over soon, a large number of residents have submitted objections at the last moment. The majority of the objections demand more open space, playgrounds and no further encroachment on plots reserved for social facilities.
Houses constructed for mathadi (head loaders) workers in various sectors in Koparkhairane and Vashi have little or no open space. These houses are small and even need to be redeveloped. Residents submitted objections claiming that the draft development plan of NMMC does not mention how the open space will be created. Shailesh Ghag, Coordinator of the “Save Navi Mumbai” campaign said that at present they lack open space, and even the draft DP does not mention how the open space will be created in the next 20 years.
Similarly, in Sanpada a social facility plot has been marked as residential. “As per an RTI of 2015-16, the said plot was an open space and now it has yellow marking for residential purposes,” said Ghag, adding that slowly all open spaces will be converted into a concrete jungle. “The open space where there are kiosks outside Sanpada railway station has also been marked as residential,” said Ghag.
The draft development plan does not mention how the connectivity with Sanpada and Sion-Panvel highway will be improved. At present, there is only one bridge and another subway. The subway cannot be used by heavy or large vehicles.
Earlier, Dashrath Bhagat, a former leader of the opposition at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) said that he has come across a number of citizens who do not know about the DP. They are not even aware what is the last date for submitting objections and suggestions if they have any. Now, he has taken responsibility and held public events to inform people. “We have already over thousands of objections and suggestions which will be submitted to NMMC,” said Bhagat, adding that he will also sit on a day-long hunger strike at Shivaji Chowk on October 5.
The civic body published the draft development plan (DP) for 2018-2038 on August 9 and gave 60 days to submit objections and suggestions. Since DP was published in English, many citizens could not understand and demanded that it should be published in Marathi.
Earlier, he demanded that the DP should be published in other languages including Marathi and Hindi and the body should conduct an awareness programme regarding the DP in every node.
Open space accessible per person
International standard set by WHO: 9 sqm open space per city person
Mumbai: 1.28 sqm
Navi Mumbai: 3 sqm
Public open space includes playgrounds, recreation grounds, and gardens.
As per the DP 2018-38: The civic body admits that the city is developed upto 95% with only 5% vacant land available for future development.
Plots received from January 1, 1992 to December 21, 2018
Play Ground/ recreational: 69
Garden/park: 168
Open Space/tree belt: 79
P147 lots demanded by NMMC from CIDCO
Play ground: 155
Open Space/tree belt: 79
Garden/park: 270
Here's what experts had to say
B N Kumar, environmentalist
The open space is woefully short of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the WHO standards. AMRUT envisages a benchmark area of about 10,000 sq meters per thousand population, whereas NMMC open space works out to 3,000 sq meters. (0.3 ha per 1,000 people).
Haresh Chheda, president of Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM)
The builders were having a lot of problems as they had to follow the DCR of CIDCO and kept demanding fresh DP and DCR of NMMC. However, the state government brought in unified development control and promotion regulations (UDCPR) in 2020 and there will be no separate DCR. “Normally, DP is prepared on virgin land. However, in Navi Mumbai, CIDCO has already developed and executed leases being the land owner and town planning authority. Now, the new DP will supersede the existing one. This might create some technical issues, especially for developers.
