BMC Commissioner Bhide asks CM to stop SRA concessions on non-slum plots under Rule 33(11)

Ashwini Bhide, Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, has raised serious objections to the functioning of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA). She has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, saying that concessions are being given by the SRA even on non-slum plots under Rule 33(11) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR).

Bhide's demand is clear. She has asked the Chief Minister to withdraw the Special Planning Authority powers from the SRA and to return proposals falling under Rule 33(11) to the Mumbai municipal corporation.

According to the letter, more than 300 development proposals for non-slum plots are pending with the SRA. The objection is that concessions applicable to slum rehabilitation under Rule 33(10) are being given even though Rule 33(11) has no such provision. The letter also states that non-slum plots are clubbed with slum plots and made subject to the same rules and concessions. It further says buildings are being permitted on such plots on lower norms than the general urban development rules.

Objections have also been recorded on proposals from Bandra to Dahisar. The letter says PTC tenements are being given in a distant area in exchange for a scheme in another area. Bhide has also informed that, because developers are submitting proposals to the SRA, the revenue of the municipal corporation and the state government is being affected. She has noted that proposals for non-slum plots in upmarket areas such as Bandra, Juhu, Worli and Malabar Hill are also going to the SRA instead of the municipal corporation.

The Commissioner has made two main demands to the Urban Development Department. First, the SRA should be directed to strictly implement the guidelines issued on October 15, 2024 under Section 154 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, and the concessions under Rule 33(10) should not be applied under Rule 33(11). Second, the SRA's status as a Special Planning Authority should be withdrawn and all development proposals under Rule 33(11) brought under the municipal corporation's jurisdiction.

The letter has also set off a political exchange. Sanjay Raut had said in criticism that Bhide's letter shows how some builders in Mumbai are getting projects illegally, and that she has named them in it. Raut said everything is being run in the Chief Minister's name, and that it is a very serious matter that the Commissioner had to write such a letter out of unease.

BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban replied to the criticism. Ban said that Uddhav Thackeray has a history of shielding builders. Saying that Raut has a habit of making a mountain out of a molehill, he asked which builder is named in the letter. Ban said those whose history is one of making Marathi people homeless should not speak about builders and people's homes.