Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said that his government was aiming
to develop Mumbai by striking a balance between infrastructure
upgradation and providing dignified housing to the people.
He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating the
'Janata Darbar' initiative restarted by the state unit
Congress.
Chavan denied the charges that his recent decision of
granting increased FSI for redevelopment and reconstruction of
16,000 old and cessed buildings in the island city of Mumbai
would put an extra burden on city's infrastrcuture.
"Our objective is to ensure city's development with a
balance between infrastructure upgradation and providing
dignified housing to the people. Tenants in the old cessed
buildings have been living there for several years and
now the structures have become dangerous and need
redevelopment. This was a long pending issue," Chavan said.
He also rejected the criticism that the decision was
taken with an eye on BMC polls. "Such criticism is
unwarranted. The administration will not be able to do any
work if such attitude persists," Chavan added.
He said the tenants of cessed buildings will have
larger houses with fire safety measures, more open spaces and
the new structures will be allowed only after scrutiny from
high rise and heritage committees.
"Due to the lack of good quality residential homes here,
the economic activity in Mumbai is coming down and our effort
is to improve this situation,"he added.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 20:59