You have the habit of betting too much beyond your own capabities. , you didn't even read what was written before blurting out. That's why I have always asked to put forward your credentials before you start talking from a professional position on any issue! :bash:
hey nice riddle, I know the answer! wait....mad....yeah something like....madhusudhan? ;)

hey nice riddle, I know the answer! wait....mad....yeah something like....madhusudhan? ;)

That's a riddle to you? :shocked:...Gee, grandmaa get a life! :baaa:

If Mumbai needs open space, then clear the slums of central Mumbai. Clear the illegal encroachments and illegal occupiers of land, and then implement futuristic designs. If you need green spaces, you can obviously take care of the huge hill that's at the back of BARC. Keep it green, and open it for public recreation.

I think Hafeez Contractor had acouple of good ideas to provide Mumbai with open and green spaces, by reclaiming land along the coastline. And I would again reiterate, that creating space in an urban environment like mumbai's is a design issue, other than anything else. Mixed development cities like Mumbai will always lead more unresolvable issues, than say, cities in North America. There, you have a clear distinction between a CBD and the residential area; and whatsmore, the design reflects this thinking.

Since in Mumbai's case there is no clear demarcation; sooner or later, the need will arise to have one. I am firmly of the opinion, that since Nariman Point is not expanding anymore, Mumbai needs a bigger and more well organised CBD. The Central Mumbai area is perfect for this, and with the completion of the Worli-Bandra Sealink, this position becomes even more clearer. Almost all the newer hotels have comeup near this place. You have all the big shopping malls situated in central Mumbai/Parel area. It makes perfect sense for the available mill-lands in this area, to be used for commercial constructions to the hilt.

The mixed used design will always lead to problematic issues! Nobody gains and everybody loses value.

That's a riddle to you? :shocked:...Gee, grandmaa get a life! :baaa:
ahh sorry ill try to take you more seriously now.....

and grandma?! Coudl've just called me 'madhusudhan' jeez.. :crazy:

If Mumbai needs open space, then clear the slums of central Mumbai. Clear the illegal encroachments and illegal occupiers of land, and then implement futuristic designs. If you need green spaces, you can obviously take care of the huge hill that's at the back of BARC. Keep it green, and open it for public recreation.

I think Hafeez Contractor had acouple of good ideas to provide Mumbai with open and green spaces, by reclaiming land along the coastline. And I would again reiterate, that creating space in an urban environment like mumbai's is a design issue, other than anything else. Mixed development cities like Mumbai will always lead more unresolvable issues, than say, cities in North America. There, you have a clear distinction between a CBD and the residential area; and whatsmore, the design reflects this thinking.

Since in Mumbai's case there is no clear demarcation; sooner or later, the need will arise to have one. I am firmly of the opinion, that since Nariman Point is not expanding anymore, Mumbai needs a bigger and more well organised CBD. The Central Mumbai area is perfect for this, and with the completion of the Worli-Bandra Sealink, this position becomes even more clearer. Almost all the newer hotels have comeup near this place. You have all the big shopping malls situated in central Mumbai/Parel area. It makes perfect sense for the available mill-lands in this area, to be used for commercial constructions to the hilt.

The mixed used design will always lead to problematic issues! Nobody gains and everybody loses value.
Oh yeah opening up BARC for public recreation seriously needs to be cosnidered....im with you grandma but this system is so screwed up...why cant they just implement all these brilliant suggestions, its so easy, ideal, so perfect.....dammit. :)

python you dont seem to be grasping the basics of urban planning, esp as you say in the case of mixed use cities. having a green space in BARC is not going to improve the quality of life in parel or byculla. this is like saying lets increase open spaces in bombay by making a park in pune

have you been to the mill areas? have you seen the percentage of land dedicated for roads, rail, pavements, parks, open spaces, etc? its virtually nil. how are you going to move people around in that area? where will people go once they come on to the streets? where do people go to relax? you sound like ganesh naik our venerable environment minister, who said lets sell all open space in bombay and make loads of money. well then after that who will want to live in bombay?

that areas sorely needs good urban planning. making malls, hotels and offices is not going to do that

python you dont seem to be grasping the basics of urban planning, esp as you say in the case of mixed use cities. having a green space in BARC is not going to improve the quality of life in parel or byculla. this is like saying lets increase open spaces in bombay by making a park in pune

have you been to the mill areas? have you seen the percentage of land dedicated for roads, rail, pavements, parks, open spaces, etc? its virtually nil. how are you going to move people around in that area? where will people go once they come on to the streets? where do people go to relax? you sound like ganesh naik our venerable environment minister, who said lets sell all open space in bombay and make loads of money. well then after that who will want to live in bombay?

that areas sorely needs good urban planning. making malls, hotels and offices is not going to do that

You seriously think I am saying that all land in Mumbai should be commercialised???? All, I am saying is that: 1) Space is a DESIGN issue in an urban setting like Central Mumbai, and 2) That we should priortize and plan for the future. Bad planning and bad design won't save Mumbai or help its people, even if you offer a wholelotmore land for green/open spaces. We MUST implement other avenues. Mumbai is in a mess, because it doesn't have a masterplan that subscribes to basic norms of urban planning. Haphazard and mixed planning has definitely added to Mumbai woes. Even cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, which are as tightly packed as Mumbai, have well defined areas for commerce and residential purposes. Maybe, this is what we need in Mumbai. We cannot just sell land to the highest bidder and then cry Socialism, Socialism, Fairness, Slum-Resettlement and Open Spaces! And, if this is what you have doing all along, then why punish just NTC, whose mill-lands are the subject of controversy here?

I really don't see any point in crying hoarse over the legality of Supreme court decisions, when the very same supreme court is unable to vacate the illegally occupied lands. I don't see any logic in all this, but only see hypocricy and self-defeatist attitude.

There are so many of you here, who are quick to take the moral highroad, but at the time fail to see or support, innovative ideas for Mumbai's urban renewel and decongestion over the longerterm.

Oh yeah opening up BARC for public recreation seriously needs to be cosnidered....im with you grandma but this system is so screwed up...why cant they just implement all these brilliant suggestions, its so easy, ideal, so perfect.....dammit. :)

Well then, instead of abusing me, why don't you push it and atleast agree and accept that I have a point here! Do you think I am an idealist? I am not that naive and I understand how India works. But the way India works is not an excuse for everything under the sun, now is it?

You seriously think I am saying that all land in Mumbai should be commercialised???? All, I am saying is that: 1) Space is a DESIGN issue in an urban setting like Central Mumbai, and 2) That we should priortize and plan for the future. Bad planning and bad design won't save Mumbai or help its people, even if you offer a wholelotmore land for green/open spaces. We MUST implement other avenues. Mumbai is in a mess, because it doesn't have a masterplan that subscribes to basic norms of urban planning. Haphazard and mixed planning has definitely added to Mumbai woes. Even cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, which are as tightly packed as Mumbai, have well defined areas for commerce and residential purposes. Maybe, this is what we need in Mumbai. We cannot just sell land to the highest bidder and then cry Socialism, Socialism, Fairness, Slum-Resettlement and Open Spaces! And, if this is what you have doing all along, then why punish just NTC, whose mill-lands are the subject of controversy here?

I really don't see any point in crying hoarse over the legality of Supreme court decisions, when the very same supreme court is unable to vacate the illegally occupied lands. I don't see any logic in all this, but only see hypocricy and self-defeatist attitude.

There are so many of you here, who are quick to take the moral highroad, but at the time fail to see or support, innovative ideas for Mumbai's urban renewel and decongestion over the longerterm.

I agree that no planning will lead to hap hazard development, no one can refute that. I think yr misunderstanding the point of open space. Maybe we should call it 'Land returned to Bombay' for planning purposes, such as roads, sidewalks, parks, utilities, basically non-built up land.

I agree that no planning will lead to hap hazard development, no one can refute that. I think yr misunderstanding the point of open space. Maybe we should call it 'Land returned to Bombay' for planning purposes, such as roads, sidewalks, parks, utilities, basically non-built up land.

I know, your point is not lost on me. All I am saying is that why don't we reclaim this land from the illegal encroachers? Do you know there's a huge slum in the Walkeshwar area near the Priyadarshini Park? - or atleast from the areal it looks like one! Nevermind, I just don't feel that NTC should be penalised here for no fault of theirs. Listen, they are setting up a big project, and they are entitled to drive the maximum value out of it. You see, they only just control a plot. You cannot put all utitlities as you listed above on just this very plot. Not to say that some part of this must not be set aside, but pls, the 1/3 rule plus all this litigation and all the supreme court hungama, is all frivolous.

Even if we extract or cut the size of this plot, still it's going to prove no panacea for Mumbai's ills. We need radical solutions, something on the lines of the u/c sealink. Now, once this sealink is finished, it will definitely decongest the Worli stretch. Similarly, elevated roads, skybridges, underground parkings and padestrian subways, can be constructed without re-aligning the current setup. I am all for spending money on these rather expensive and more durable solutions, than do something which will become obsolete the next year. Does anyone sincerely believe, that by reserving chunks of land, Mumbai's problems can be solved? Mumbai is a growing city by any measure, and what you brush under the carpet today, will pop up tomorrow. So what is gained by this land-bachao tamasha?

On a flipper note, had Supreme court not objected to this development, we all would be eagerly anticipating the construction of the proposed skyscraper. We are arguing, just because we are contrarian by nature, and the spanner in the works was thrown in by one fool, who thinks he knows everyhthing about everything. I ask, why are dancing around the Supreme Court Verdict? And I expect an honest answer, and not just a prolongation of this debate because we have to win for our respective positions.

Anybody can holdup anything in India, by raising the Supreme Court bogey. Did Supreme Court consult all the planning bodies, before passing its judgement? It's just fighting based on what is said on a piece of paper, which probably was written when land was granted to NTC, some 40-50 yrs back. What is the validity of this paper for the public good, after such a timelapse?
It's simply an academic exercise, which in reality doesn't solve the city's problems, and only compounds it by decreasing the value of the commercially exploitable plot - which ironically happens to be state property.

the land was goven on lease for a specific purpose, for running mills. since its not being used for that purpose anymore, the landlord, i.e. the government, can ask for it back, either fully or partially. NTC or the private mill-owners dont have a right to sell land they got for a pittance and for a specific purpose (and on lease not free-hold) to the highest bidder. easier now?

you can read the laws of the land. if the conditions of the lease are not being fulfilled the landlord can evict the tenant and take back his property

the land was goven on lease for a specific purpose, for running mills. since its not being used for that purpose anymore, the landlord, i.e. the government, can ask for it back, either fully or partially. NTC or the private mill-owners dont have a right to sell land they got for a pittance and for a specific purpose (and on lease not free-hold) to the highest bidder. easier now?

you can read the laws of the land. if the conditions of the lease are not being fulfilled the landlord can evict the tenant and take back his property
Very true, and infact during the beginning of this year, we had a discussion on this very point. But in this case, it's NTC, which is a state enterprise. If we have lost before, then why lose revenue again. I fully agree that public land should not have been sold for pittance to the private companies. In case of NTC it's just a transfer of title from one state org to another one. So, let the state make money out of it, and by george Maharashtra needs this revenue. The SC should not pour piss over it, especially when it didn't do nada, when private parties were busy selling their "gifted" parcels of land. This is stupid: The public is duping itself!

^remember, two wrongs don't make a right....and I think even now there must be a clause somewhere that after a x number of years, the property upon which these buildings stand, would be transferred back to the government. Which means probably, that once let's say, SD Towers is beyond it's expiry date, the builders won't be allowed to construct a new tower in its place, thereby mitigating the transfer of title back to the government. If I not mistaken, then most leases are not more than 99 years.

Besides, the State gets a fixed income out of these arrangements, which is called the property/wealth tax. I don't live in India, but I have property there, and I have to pay property tax every year on it. So, in the longer run, the State has probably never lost revenue on the sale of these parcels of land. Either way, it will collect it's due, if not from the builder, then from the residents.

Bombay_boy: I don't think the issue relates to the lease conditions, rather to whether the amendment to the Development Control Rules made by the Vilasrao Deshmukh Government for the purpose was lawful or not. The High Court decision was based on the argument that the amendment was not lawful.

One other factor that is not being considered is the possibilities this land throws up in conjunction with the proposed Trans Harbour Link. One of the major hurdles about which the planners are currently not really proposing many solutions is on how to best distribute the traffic coming to the Island end. One of the suggestions was to create a major multi-modal linkage point, where commuters could park their cars and then transfer to public transit options to get to other parts of the city. However, one challenge was to come up with a suitable site for such a multi-modal transit point. The mill lands perhaps provide some opportunities on that front, now that the planners may have to look at the land-use in these lands from scratch.

On a side note to admins and others: the best way to deal with a disruptive member of the forum, whose only contribution has been to hurl abuses, throw tantrums, express hatred for religious communities or regional groups, throw around racial slurs like 'darkies' etc., ask for a linguistic split of the country and threaten to destroy the forum in a past avatar is to ignore him/her completely when he/she is disruptive. If he/she has any worthwhile comments to make, by all means they are welcome. Banning is not a solution since the person will just come back by a new name and be disruptive again.

I just think though that this is such a good opportunity to rev up the economy, the city should cash-in as much as possible.

Agreed. But at the same time, I am sure you would agree that it would be good if it is done in a way that makes the city better, not a way that adds to its problems.

Even I would like to point out to the admins, that those people who incite using language that is bound to hurt someone, should be put on the warning list. This is an open forum, and those who chose not to declare their professional qualification of a certain subject, have no right to roughshod others with their arguments. Either you present your credentials, or let others showcase their viewpoints. Vitiating the atmosphere will always result in disruption and discontinuation, and for that one cannot blame the bereaved party.

As for being smartypants, some people really think they have somesort of leverage over others, and call for others execution: Don't Ban him, Don't Ban him, Let him be an example, let him suffer from guilt pangs....oh please, don't ban him don't him. This is called chaalupanti, and shows the worth of some people. Only sleazy people know how to incite others, and then take a moral highroad. For all I care, they can go to hell, and their opinions don't matter.

I complement others freely, and accept divergent viewpoints freely. I don't take sides, and support only those ideas which seem fair to me, regardless of whois putting them forward. I don't suffer from CLUB-GANG mentality when it comes to discussing issues. However, there are more than enough people here, who neigther acknowledge others, nor have the forthrightness to accept someone's fair views. That's them, I can only pity them!

However, I have never nor will, tolerate those who have a dictatorial bent of mind. To them, I show my middle finger, and will always let my impulses rule me while dealing with their demonic sides.

Pls ban me, pls ban me....someone's self-worth depends on it. Oh pls oh pls!

just a note.

who gets banned and gets warnings are in this thread offtopic. Here the thing that should be discussed is the issue of NTC-mill.

2, i dont discuss who gets banned or not in public and what methods we use. We have rules of what to post and not to post the rules are in the main India-section.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=182984

Guys:

How about the following project: If you were to decide how the land should be used, what would you do. This may need to be done at a micro level, considering each of the mills separately where they are not in the same vicinity and as a group when they can be grouped together.

First, is there a full list available somewhere of the set of mills involved in this deal? We can then work out the possibilities.

Second, any thoughts about my proposal to use a part of this land for making the Trans Harbour Link a lot more useful? Is it a feasible idea? Ubermensch mentioned East-West links - this idea would contribute to the East-West (and cross harbor) links in the city.

Third, since transportation is a pressing need of the city, any other ideas of how a part of this land can be utilized to improve transportation networks in the city?

Bombay Boy: Are you talking about NTC mills on leased land or private mills? I don't think private the mills who run on leased land can sell their land. Case in point being Century mills which is still running, the main reason being their land is on lease. But others like Piramal and Thackersey own their lands and can sell it. I don't think the SC can ask them to donate their lands for free space or low cost housing. Don't know about NTC. If they are on leased lands and the mills have closed down, then NTC should not be allowed to sell it. Ideally the state govt should use it for parks, green spaces and commercial projects. No low cost housing crap though. Thats waste of prime real estate.

gyrations95 raises a good point. SC cannot force the mill land owners to sell their lands to others for open space/low-cost housing. What it can however do is to force the Government to abide by its own rules (for instance, the ones relating to the DCR and to EIA).

NTC lands have identical terms as the ones for private mills. In fact, NTC did not build its own plants - it was formed as a public company that would take over sick mills. All the NTC mills in Mumbai were private mills in the past.

Well then, instead of abusing me, why don't you push it and atleast agree and accept that I have a point here! Do you think I am an idealist? I am not that naive and I understand how India works. But the way India works is not an excuse for everything under the sun, now is it?
Well if it isnt Kim Jong asking for human rights. :lol:

Even I would like to point out to the admins, that those people who incite using language that is bound to hurt someone, should be put on the warning list. This is an open forum, and those who chose not to declare their professional qualification of a certain subject, have no right to roughshod others with their arguments. Either you present your credentials, or let others showcase their viewpoints. Vitiating the atmosphere will always result in disruption and discontinuation, and for that one cannot blame the bereaved party.
hey nice riddle, I know the answer! Madhusudhan!!! :)

just kidding.....I sympathize, who are those fellows huh? club mentality is too bloody right, just tell me ill show them the finger too, thatll get the message through. I mean what is it with everyone here? Its a free forum, if you want to destroy it its your right!

hm,this is offtopic but paying tax on existing real estate is a good idea to finance low cost housing(social housing). scandinavian and blatic countries use this method to first tax the owner of the house and then the state subsidizes the interest rate so building becomes cheap.A pretty good way to hike the standards of housing.

But ideologically it is sensitive.

Agreed. But at the same time, I am sure you would agree that it would be good if it is done in a way that makes the city better, not a way that adds to its problems.
sure, its about looking for the perfect balance....im sure a lot of thought has gone into the various suggestions, like the 1/3 plan, but I really wish we could know more to think about, its all so hush hush. But its nice to discuss it here atleast. :)

the explanation on the lease status by me was as a counter to someone who suggested the mill-owners are only selling what they own. thats not the case. if there is a change of usage the landlord can terminate the lease

also ntc being a government enterprise cannot escape this. ntc is a central body in charge of mills across india. the landlord is the bmc, not the maharashtra government. they are two very different bodies and the law applies to all. if the land was actually owned by anyone the 1/3rd formula cannot be imposed

as for the private mills the biggest problem is we dont know what is the actual status of the lease. some of the leases might have even expired, considering mills have been in bombay for well over 99 years. in that case some mill-owners might actually be squatters. the bmc is not releasing these very important documents as they have probably been greased very well. more needs to be known

i gave my ideal scenario on the first page. i'll repeat it here

'ideally' the govt. should make a plan where all the mills are bundled together and a plan is made for the whole area instead of piece-meal. they should hold auctions for the commercial space and put it into a single fund. then the mill-owners can get the money in the same ratio as the value of their property to the value of the sum total

east-west roads, one or two more north-south arteries, light rail, parks and public housing. this is too important an opportunity for the city to spurn

and public housing is not wasteful. the last thing this city needs is more ghettoisation. hopefully the rent control act can be reformed and the people who live in these buildings can pay a reasonable rent for the upkeep of these properties

The void in Mumbai’s heart (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80417)

For the city, the high court judgment poses a challenge
MILIND DEORA

Posted online: Friday, October 21, 2005 at 0000 hours IST

Milind Deora The Bombay High Court’s recent judgment on Mumbai’s mill lands has sparked off a serious debate on how Mumbai should be developed. While developers believe the ruling will raise the price of Mumbai’s real estate due to a fall in the supply of housing, activists and urban planners see it as an opportunity to better plan the city’s transformation into a world-class metro.

The judgment stipulates that mill lands be developed on a formula that divides the land equally among mill owners, the BMC (Municipal Corporation) and MHADA (Maharashtra’s housing board). While mill owners can commercially exploit their share, the BMC must utilise its land for open spaces. This formula was in practice until 2001 when it was amended to facilitate development. This amendment was challenged in the High Court, as it resulted in less land being made available to the city.

The mill land debate has thrown up questions that can be dissected across several dimensions. For instance, why are freehold mill lands being singled out, what will happen to unpaid workers, why didn’t activists go to court immediately after the 2001 amendment, why is the government battling environmentalists when a majority of the mill land is going to BMC and MHADA? Should the government be for or against the judgment considering it stands to gain the most from it? What were the legalities that influenced high court judges to conclude that the amendment was illegal? After all, the judiciary’s sole objective is to abide by the Constitution of India. The judges’s interpretation that the law had been violated obviously took precedence while arriving at a decision, not their concern for Mumbai.

It would be fair to broadly categorise the mill land debate into three areas: the mill owners’ view, the judiciary’s view and, lastly, Mumbai’s perspective. As an MP, I am only able to comment on the latter. What troubles me as a resident of Mumbai, and not because I represent her, is the fact that improvements in infrastructure have for long taken a backseat to ‘development’. By development, I mean the construction of residential and commercial properties that by no means a) generate affordable housing or b) contribute to the city’s long-term health. This is not the fault of developers alone, but of archaic and lopsided laws that foster indiscriminate development. Also, as I have said repeatedly before, the lack of coordination among local agencies is another factor contributing to this problem. Taking the liberty of an important digression, I say Mumbai must have a directly elected mayor!

While I particularly enjoy the skyscrapers of New York City, I have never witnessed a narrow congested road leading to one of the city’s buildings. Nor have I heard friends living in New York’s skyscrapers complain that their apartment receives water for only eight hours a day, or that they need to travel out of the city to enjoy large patches of green spaces. The Bombay High Court’s verdict, therefore, was one of foresight. Had we allowed defunct mill lands to be converted into residential and commercial complexes, it wouldn’t have been long before residents of Dadar, Parel and Lal Baug found themselves without water. Even buyers of the newly built structures would have had to wade through hours of traffic before reaching their homes and workplaces.

Furthermore, if 26/7 were to occur over this land, it wouldn’t have taken long for the region to be submerged under water. No doubt, the city’s crumbling infrastructure coupled with a growing populace should not be an excuse for preventing mill owners from developing their land. However, a few years into the future, hindsight would have been unkind to Mumbai had the court not ruled in favour of the city.

Although the judgment means that the Central government will lose out financially, it would make little sense for it to have a rich National Textile Corporation while spending thousands of crores of rupees on Mumbai’s urban renewal programme. There is not a single resident or visitor in Mumbai who isn’t convinced that the city’s infrastructure is choking and that open spaces and public housing are a must. The ratio of open spaces per thousand people in Mumbai is 0.03 acres. That of green spaces will be far less. In fact, New Delhi’s ratio is far greener than Mumbai’s.

Therefore, the Bombay High Court judgment poses both an opportunity and a challenge for Mumbai. The urban development department of Mantralaya has been presented with a godsend opportunity to review its town planning strategies. Land in the heart of the city will be made available to convert into parks, open utilities and public housing. A whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, the land acquired by the government should be developed using an integrated approach, keeping in mind Mumbai’s requirements. For this, MHADA and the BMC cannot work in isolation. They must involve town planners in their efforts towards fulfilling their basic duties of guaranteeing transit camps, low-income homes and sprawling greens. These are amenities that ensure world-class standards, resulting in the creation of world-class cities.

Mill owners, too, can participate in this plan by building residential areas near these parks which, in turn, will fetch them higher prices than they would have otherwise have earned. They must be cautious in stating that they will not develop their lands under the new judgment or that they will appeal in the Supreme Court because, in doing so, they are making the argument that they care for the welfare of mill workers void. Today’s attractive property prices and the liquidity in the real estate market presents a unique opportunity to mill owners to develop their land while contributing substantially to Mumbai’s overall well-being.

Unfortunately, a committee established by the Maharashtra government was unable to arrive at its logical conclusion. Had the committee arrived at a solution, the judicial process could have been averted and everyone concerned would have been a winner. It is in this context that I see the Bombay High Court judgment as greatly beneficial to Mumbai. It is not against anyone but in favour of the city. Shakespeare once wrote in Henry IV “wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it”. Someone has finally taken note.

The writer is a Congress MP from South Mumbai

Poor Mumbai! The officials haven't even heard of planning!

The void in Mumbai’s heart (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80417)
For the city, the high court judgment poses a challenge
MILIND DEORA
What are the credentials of this guy? Being an MP of the ruling party at both centre and state he could have done a lot to swing politics in favour of Mumbai. But he rather chooses to talk-talk and not walk-walk. Is he even associated with some NGO or some non-profit organisation which does something good for the city? The problems he has mentioned is known to everyone. What is he doing to implement some of them?

Here is an awesome 7-page report on the whole controversy. A long, but a must read for anyone interested.

I'm posting page 1 in full.


Law of the land (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551)

As the 14-year-old battle for Mumbai’s mill lands shifts to the Supreme Court, Chitrangada Choudhury examines the conflicting interests that threaten to become a millstone for the city’s aspirational future

Posted online: Sunday, October 23, 2005 at 0000 hours IST


ON Monday morning, a battery of lawyers representing 30-odd parties, ranging from Mumbai’s old-money mill-owners to diverse state authorities to a host of city organisations, lined up to hear Bombay High Court judges S Radhakrishnan and S Dharmadhikari pronounce their judgment on a two month-long, bitterly contested PIL questioning mega redevelopment projects across central Mumbai’s 600-acre millscape.

This is what the 368-page order’s cryptic conclusions—evoking strong reactions and throwing up one of Mumbai’s biggest conundrums in recent times—stated:


• All the construction carried out by various developers are clearly violative of EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) Notification as amended on July 7, 2004, as admittedly none of them have obtained clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests.

During the hearing, the court found almost all the giant construction projects on mill lands lacked this central environmental clearance; most mills began the process of obtaining okays after these facts emerged in court.

• All sales of mill lands carried out by NTC are clearly contrary to the Supreme Court orders dated May 11, 2005, and September 27, 2002, and contrary to the sanctioned BIFR scheme (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) revival plan.

The SC order had directed NTC to sell a third of each defunct mill to raise funds to revive 12 mills it wants to modernise and operate. Since March, NTC has sold the entire plots of five mills—a proposal not yet cleared by the BIFR—allocating the city’s shares in two other mills.

http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/newspic/20051023/bw2.jpg

• In amended DCR 58 1b, ‘‘open lands’’ would include lands after demolition of structures.

This interpretation of just two words of one of Mumbai’s most arcanely framed urban regulations (see War of Words) radically increased the part of a redeveloping mill’s land that must be shared three-ways with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Housing Development Authority (MHADA) for public amenities and public housing in exchange for construction rights.


Drawing the Line
‘‘THIS marks a great victory for Mumbai,’’ exults Iqbal Chagla, senior counsel for the litigant, the city NGO Bombay Environmental Action Group, of a judgment that said the interest of a city on the brink of urban disaster could not be subservient to a mill-owner’s profit.

‘‘It’s unfortunate that it was finally left to the courts to order this,’’ says South Mumbai MP Milind Deora who has long suggested that the various contending parties work on a master plan to make optimal use of the mill land. ‘‘Mumbai sorely lacks public amenities, open spaces and public housing, and will clearly benefit from the increased allocations the court has ordered.’’

But Ness Wadia, managing director of the 125-year-old giant Bombay Dyeing, believes mill-owners are being targeted for the city’s ills. ‘‘If industrial units must share their land, why didn’t the PIL argue for a similar law across the board?’’ he argues.

Today, with redevelopment profits of over Rs 20,000 crore at stake, crores raised in loans to fund giant construction projects and mill-land purchases, and clear mills’ dues, it’s clear that the ‘‘increased land allocations’’ Deora refers to are easier said than done.

‘‘This judgment has landed us in a bigger mess than before,’’ says HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, whose institution is among the many banks financing the redevelopment projects (see Mill on the Loss).

And while delivering hefty blows to such projects, the judgment has steered clear of the specific relief that flows from its conclusions, leaving a trail of claims and counter-claims.

‘‘The judges never set aside the sale of our mills,’’ says NTC chairman Ramachandra Pillai (see ‘PIL motivated against us’), the PSU which raised a record-breaking Rs 2,020 crore from the sale of just under 50 acres of mill land. NTC is now among the various parties approaching the Supreme Court to unscramble the situation.

‘‘The Supreme Court will hopefully uphold our appeal. How can redevelopment permissions given one-two years ago be revoked like this?’’ asks mill-owner-turned-developer Rajeev Piramal, who is redeveloping four mills as residential and office complexes.

And while Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was behind the controversial amendment, says his government won’t challenge the order, state authorities are waiting and watching, in the absence of clear directions from the court.

Page 2 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=1)
Page 3 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=2)
Page 4 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=3)
Page 5 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=4)
Page 6 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=5)
Page 7 (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=6)

Ok, I'll post page 4 too.

Here's Hafeez Contractor's take on the whole thing.

Mills are their owners’ to develop most profitably (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=3)

http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/newspic/20051023/bw5.jpg

THE city of Mumbai has slowly but steadily gone into a state of frozen disengagement, avoiding proactive measures while taking refuge in timid stagnancy. This way of functioning will gradually smother the welfare of the city’s ordinary citizens, along with its private enterprise.

Let’s consider some statistics: We are a city of 16 million people; the figure is projected to rise to a whopping 22 million by 2020. Today 55 per cent of the city lives in slums, 20-25 per cent lives in old dilapidated buildings. This means there’s actually only 25 per cent good quality accommodation in Mumbai.

There’s also a larger connotation to this statistic: 75 per cent of the population pays virtually no taxes or pays old cessed taxes. The entire burden of infrastructural development of the city thus falls on 25 per cent of the populace. If the city allows redevelopment, it will get the much-warranted present-day taxes, which can fund our infrastructure.

The 438-sq km size of the city can’t even come close to accommodating its inhabitants. Nonetheless, we place extensive restrictions on legal development of even land that’s available.

It is madness for a coastal city like Mumbai to have a policy like CRZ, which closes 35-40 per cent of the city land to development. The slum rehabilitation scheme —the only scheme creating housing predominantly for the poor—is also largely paralysed, given that the scheme was halted on ‘Reservation Land’ (where most of the work was being undertaken). The 33(7) ruling, pertaining to the development of cessed buildings, ensured that redevelopment of old dilapidated buildings came to a virtual standstill. The TDR affair (a PIL says the suburbs should not bear the brunt of construction rights given to developers) will bring development in the suburbs to a standstill.

And here’s the final straw: the freeze on mill redevelopment. A law that didn’t move anything when promulgated is back in place again. As was the case pre-2000, mill-owners will have to give two-thirds of their land to BMC for parks and to MHADA for low-cost housing if they choose to demolish the existing structure and redevelop it.

THE idea has fundamental fallacies. Mill-owners might go back to holding on to their property instead of sharing it with the city. They don’t seem to have a good incentive in this deal anyway.

Mills are private property, their owners have the right to put their land to the best and most profitable use. Why are we just singling out the mill-owners—if you pursue a policy, it should apply to everybody in the city. Are Mumbai’s residents so altruistic that they will distribute their own possessions for the good of the city and society?

Most people will roll their eyes at this projection because it sounds so far-fetched, but the way the city is going, only 10-15 per cent will have a reasonable home in the future. So will you force the minority population to share their homes with the rest of the population in the next 20 years, since you aren’t planning to accommodate them? Inflicting the public costs of creating low-cost housing and parks on private entrepreneurs is, in essence, wrong.

Freezing a unit and keeping it in non-use will lower the wealth of the city and its people. In the instance of the mills, the utilisation of land for apartments, malls or hotels will generate revenue and create job opportunities.

Moreover, it’s a myth that MHADA creates low-cost housing: they sell flats at market rates, but their products gather lower rates because they are sub-standard.

Also, it is an illusion that 200 acres of open space will be created. Even if a mill-owner chooses to redevelop, the open areas will be small patches. And since it will be public land, it’s bound to be occupied by shanties!

The halt on the redevelopment of 600 acres of defunct mills, along with other restrictive policies, is bound to push prices sky-high and slaughter the aspirations of the common man. If you want to buy a flat in Mumbai, you need 15-20 years of your income; that figure is bound to increase with our restrictive policies. Yet, we have the city’s intelligentsia saying we should stall all development.

The writer is a leading architect


A related article about rent prices:
Ruling on mill land sale may push up real estate prices (http://www.hindu.com/biz/2005/10/24/stories/2005102401171800.htm)

Oh what the hell... here's page 5 too...

Mill On The Loss (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80551&pn=4)

THE October 17 Bombay High Court judgment has thrown a big question mark over 20-odd redevelopment projects, worth crores of rupees, in various stages of progress across Mumbai’s millscape. The standoff will continue till the Supreme Court gives its judgment on the challenge by millowners and NTC

Phoenix Mill: The first to redevelop, the 1899 mill today is Central’s Mumbai’s entertainment and shopping hub. A multiplex and hotel are currently being added here though the BMC lease deed in 2005 gives the mill over 20,000 square yards of land at the annual rent of a rupee for ‘residences of labour staff, and welfare services...like a school’


Morarjee Mill 1: Construction of the residential complex ‘Ashok Towers’, with three 30-storeyed and a 50-storeyed tower, underway for the past six months. Part of the mill’s land is on a 956-year lease for annual rent of Rs 1 (Sun was right... construction has been halted)


Morarjee Mill 2: Peninsula Corporate Park houses new economy offices like TATA-AIG and Orange, as well as a posh health centre, Wellsprings; part of the land is on a 999-year lease.


Simplex Mill: This mill, co-founded by Mohammed Ali Jinnah in 1913, is bowing out to Planet Godrej, five residential towers of 46 storeys each. Part of the land was given on a 99-year lease for an annual rent of Rs 43. The lease expired in 1983. (f*** me. Planet Godrej on halt, too?? Only 46 stories???)


Shrinivas Mill: South Mumbai’s crorepati BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha won the redevelopment rights, plans a residential complex


Swan Mill (Kurla): Office complex already under construction


Swan Mill (Sewree): Morarjee Realties is developing Ashok Gardens, a complex of residential towers along the lines of Morarjee’s Ashok Towers. (Along the lines? Another 50+ storey tower?)


Standard Mill: A giant apartment complex of Beau Monde, with flats priced at over Rs 1 crore each. Builder Sheth Developers calls it ‘a tribute to Mumbai (Beaumonde halted too! :eek: )


Residential towers have also been cleared by the BMC for:
Bombay Dyeing Mill, Victoria Mills, Piramal Mills, Hindustan Mills, Eastern Spinning & Weaving Mill, Ruby Mill

Of the 25 nationalised mills in the city, NTC has auctioned five since March. The sales, the High Court says, does not adhere to the sanctioned revival scheme

Jupiter Mill, 10 acres: The first NTC mill to come onto the market was sold to the stock firm India Bulls in March for Rs 276 crore. The BMC cleared a two-tower ‘techopark’ office complex here in August


Apollo Mill, 8 acres: The NTC mill land received the highest bid of Rs 180 crore. Residential towers are planned here


Mumbai Mill, 17 acres: Purchased by Delhi-based DLF and Akruti Nirman developers for Rs 702 crore, the mill, among the city’s largest, will make way for a cinema complex and mall


Elphinstone Mill, 8 acres: Was purchased by India Bulls for Rs 441 crore
Kohinoor, 5 acres: Was purchased jointly by Manohar Joshi’s Kohinoor CTN Developers and Raj Thackeray’s Matoshree Realtors for Rs 421 crore. A residential complex-cum-shopping centre is planned

X-posted because discussion is better served in this thread.

Sorry to go all "Captain Mumbai" on you guys all of a sudden, but speaking of HC, here's a recent interesting interview...

"We are fostering a culture of scarcity" (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&leftindx=1&lselect=2&chklogin=N&autono=203225)
REAL ESTATE
Gayatri Ramanathan / Mumbai October 18, 2005

If you do a web search of Mumbai’s most famous buildings, more than half, you will find, bear Hafeez Contractor’s signature. (Jai sez: Thanks in no small part to all of us at SSC India, which pretty much dominates any web search on anything Mumbai buildings :D) This 53-year-old architect is known as much for quirky designs as for his radical views on Mumbai’s ills. In a conversation with Business Standard, he outlines his prescription for the city which can also be applied to other metros in the country.


What would you say is Mumbai’s biggest problem today?

Today if you ask anybody what is Mumbai’s biggest problem, they will tell you that the city has no infrastruture, roads, drainage, water supply, medical facilities or ambience.

Then we talk about old buildngs and rent control. Flat prices here are out of reach of most ordinary people. Yet, we have the city’s elite saying that we should not have any developments.

The crux of Mumbai’s problems is that 55 percent of its people live in slums and do not pay taxes. Of the remaining 40 per cent, ten per cent live in old cessed buildings and pay very low taxes.

In south Mumbai, barring Peddar Road and Napeansea Road, areas like Girgaum, Mohammed Ali Road, Tardeo, Colaba are all old and virtually dilapidated buildings. The entire burden of development is falling on the 30 per cent who are paying taxes.


How can you expect them to foot the cost of the city’s development? What will the city earn from?

Let’s look at why people are staying in slums and old buildings. Today, if you want to buy a flat in Mumbai, you have to put aside 15-20 years of your income.

Because we have made a law that the city will only grant an FSI of 1.33, on the grounds that it is an island city and there is no infrastructure. Yet, we have a population of 16 million and more are coming in. Still we have people saying “no infrastructure, no development”.

So people live in slums. We have develpoment, but those people are not paying taxes. This is the crux of the problem: We are fostering a market of scarcity.


What should be done to change that?

We have people saying Mumbai contributes 35 per cent of all taxes so the central government should give the city more. Delhi is not going to give us anything. A city cannot survive on begging. Nor can we go to the World Bank and ask for Rs 55,000 crore to put the city in order. The firstthing they will ask is ‘How are you going to repay?’ We don’t have repayment plan.

Where is the monetary going to come from? That is your golden question. The golden answer is that the need for more housing is already there. So let us enhance the opportunities there.

In Mumbai, people want to go up because they can that is only way they can get a sea view. It is like having an an open air park in front of your house: You feel better. When there are no parks, people go for the sea view.

All the small restaurants in the Fort area have been sold to banks. All the hair cutting saloons have gone. Our streets are now filled with boys selling chinese food. But we still don’t want to give extra FSI.

In New York, if the builder gives a restaurant on the ground floor of a building, sandwich corner and a hair cutting saloon, puts a park with benches, a water body and a sculpture, he gets extra FSI for all of these additions.

The basic FSI of 7or 8 can go up to 25 on the basis of these additions. Unless you give benefits for creating utilities, no builder is going to do anything for the city. It is not that our housing is expensive to build, it is the price of air.


What is this price of air?

In the city today, the price of housing is Rs 25,000 - Rs 30,000 a sqaure foot. The cost of construction is Rs 2000 sq ft, finance, etc., is Rs 500 sq ft and land is Rs 5000 sq ft. Today, the city gives an FSI of 1.33. If that is rasied to 10 with the additional 8.7 being sold by a real estate endowment trust to the builders. (Jai sez: FSI of 10?!! :D :D :D)

The trust in turn plows the money back into the city’s infrastructure. With this you will get development which is legal, money which can be plowed into the city. The endowment should be set up by the municpality, so that the money does not get dissipated in other schemes, it is used only for the city’s infrastructure.

This FSI should be made availble only the builder commits to creating social infrastructure like low-cost housing, schools and hospitals. With a trust like this, you can create infrastructure for the city easily and quickly in 10-15 years

Hey guys

Here's a treat... A map of Mumbai's mill lands that are approved for development:
http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/800/mumbaimilllandsresized2cq.jpg

To download a reeeal hi res version of the above (1752x1952 pixels), for printing out and hanging over your bed so its the last thing you see before you sleep at night, or to use as a table cover if you are so inclined, download the 2.53 meg image from Megaupload, here (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BLGU7FKY) .

I'm not certain Megaupload.com is totally work safe, but it is very reliable. So if can't DL it, PM me and I'll hook you up another way.

-Jai

Three floors to 38: How builders fooled the law, irked the high court (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=153527)
Express News Service

Mumbai, October 18: There are buildings in Mumbai that stand really tall today—much more than the law would permit. The Bombay High Court was shocked to find that ‘‘buildings of one or two five-storeys with only five or six genuine tenants were replaced by sky-scrapers’’.

The high court’s clampdown on unabated construction by misusing Section 33 (7) of the Development Control Rules (DCR, see box) has come after petitioners pointed out several instances of gross violation.

In Monday’s judgement, the court said these examples ‘‘demonstrate a pattern of conduct on the part of builders and developers by which the provisions of DCR 33 (7) have been utilised to subvert every conceivable norm of urban planning in order to promote their own rapacious ends.’’

Siddesh Apartment, Thakurdwar: This 24-storey structure was constructed after the amalgamation of two buildings—Govardhan Niwas and Seksaria Building. While Seksaria’s 28 rooms were inflated to 48, Govardhan Niwas’s 31 rooms were inflated to 41 in the redevelopment proposal.

Though the Maharashtra Housing Area and Development Authority (MHADA) noticed the discrepancy in the number of rooms—the builder’s list and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s records differed—the proposal was approved.

Krishna Bhuvan, Slater Street: Here, the 18 tenants were inflated to 40. After reconstruction, the two-storey building has now transformed into a 15-storey tower. While the tenants have been accommodated in the first two floors, the remaining floors are used as a hotel.

Landlord Krishna Shetty, in his redevelopment proposal, had claimed that 21 tenants were occupying 37 rooms, of which 18 were occupied by his family.

Suraj Apartments, Breach Candy: The three-storey structure was replaced by a 38-storey tower simply by creating fake tenancies. The developer stretched the original list of three tenants to 26. When MHADA dragged the developer to court in 1997, the high court observed that the prima facie conclusion would be that 23 tenants were not the original tenants.

Here's Suraj Tower
http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/2862/18fa.jpg

interesting you posted an article about hafeez contractor in the other thread. the same hafeez contractor, who along with his relatives, claimed to be an original tenant of the house in whose place suraj was built. what credibility does he have now?

india seems to be full of people with no credibility. politicians, slumlords, builders, contractors, civic officials. even us. man this is depressing

I don't afford two damn jots to any credibility of anybody. But at least HC and his like actually have a plan for the city letting private investment naturally run its course and giving Mumbai the opportunity to bring up the quality of life for all its denizens and modernizing the metropolis... a modernization that will in and of itself generate more FDI than would otherwise be generated from this first-word in third-world limboland that Mumbai is floundering about in now.

Mumbai is teetering at the brink of a very bloody steep precipice. And while I trust the city bosses and architects and industrialists and ngos and land mafia and everybody to eventually hamfist their way to a fuddling compromise -- and only because I trust their ability to save their own worthless skin --, I do think that the public disucssion and fuddling about is taking far, far too long. Too many egos and too much unnecessary bureaucracy even for Indian politics and even for Mumbai Indian politics.

At least HC has been the most outspoken for the need for Mumbai to go vertical, as the enviromental, economic, and lifestyle ramifications of unregulated sprawl will be utterly disasterous.


So is breaking a stupid law stupid? Yeah. But I still hold the HCs above the politicos and ngos and land mafias because people like him at least have the drive and zeal to shove Mumbai kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

And plus he has delivered on (mostly) world class quality, and architecturally unique buildings.


...though I had noticed that the entry for project Suraj Tower is mysteriously missing from his webpage ;)

just heard from someone in the know that the compromise formula that the GoM had brought to the table was 50% to mill-owners, 33% to open spaces and 17% to mhada, with both mill-owners and mhada getting double the available fsi. so effectively the mill-owners would enjoy fsi that was equivalent to the normal fsi for the full property and mhada would get fsi equivalent to 33% of the property. most had agreed, the major dissenting voice was nusli wadia, who effectively told the GoM to get lost. and mostly due to that the whole plan collapsed

the above solution would have been near-perfect

Awesome news!

What is the largest current FSI for the properties right now? Something like 2.5-3, iirc? Does this mean that, at 6, we can see buildings potentially breaking the 80 storey mark?

Does that mean that super (duper) talls will not be able to be built?

Has the GoI given the green light for unregulated commerical highrise development?


If no... it looks like we will have to wait 5-10 years for a proper CBD to be built on the former docklands...

some buildings have used as much fsi as 10-20. hard to say whats the highest used

just as an aside, ballard estate has the same fsi as nariman point. which is more beautiful though, or with broader pavements?

That's true, but high fsi is the exception only after the builder and city agrees to overlook the laws if builder virtually builds an entire park across the street, or an unusable one on top of the parking garage. But not natural fsi on the property plot itself?

not by building parks. by bribing the civic officials and claiming more existing tenants while 'redevloping' an old building

highest would be 5 or so i think. for hospitals, etc

I don't afford two damn jots to any credibility of anybody. But at least HC and his like actually have a plan for the city letting private investment naturally run its course and giving Mumbai the opportunity to bring up the quality of life for all its denizens and modernizing the metropolis... a modernization that will in and of itself generate more FDI than would otherwise be generated from this first-word in third-world limboland that Mumbai is floundering about in now.

Mumbai is teetering at the brink of a very bloody steep precipice. And while I trust the city bosses and architects and industrialists and ngos and land mafia and everybody to eventually hamfist their way to a fuddling compromise -- and only because I trust their ability to save their own worthless skin --, I do think that the public disucssion and fuddling about is taking far, far too long. Too many egos and too much unnecessary bureaucracy even for Indian politics and even for Mumbai Indian politics.

At least HC has been the most outspoken for the need for Mumbai to go vertical, as the enviromental, economic, and lifestyle ramifications will be utterly disasterous.


So is breaking a stupid law stupid? Yeah. But I still hold the HCs above the politicos and ngos and land mafias because people like him at least have the drive and zeal to shove Mumbai kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

And plus he has delivered on (mostly) world class quality, and architecturally unique buildings.


...though I had noticed that the entry for project Suraj Tower is mysteriously missing from his webpage ;)

No it is there. Instead it's called Millenium Tower. Hafzu doen't disown anything he creates. Thatway, he has a true Artist's EGO! :)

I hate Mumbai politics. :mad:

hc has a plan, the slumlords have a plan, everyone has a plan. doesnt mean all of them are right. is making skyscrapers in congested localities going to improve quality of life or reduce it?

people like charles correa are real architects and urban planners. hc is not an urban planner, all he knows is how to build

On that note, Bombay Boy any news frrom the officials u were in touch with about FSI?

I really think FSI should be variable and increased in commercial areas aswell as residential areas where the permitting infrastructure is in place (or is in teh process of development)

Also, even if HC is a creep, his idea of granting additional FSI for builders who develop infrastructure (social or otherwise) is good and should be practiced. Motivation for the builders to help develop the city. One should limit this infrastructure upgrade to the area in which the builder wishes to use the higher FSI that he is provided.

Our biggest issue is NO POLICY!!!!!! or retarded policies at best.

Thanks

just heard from someone in the know that the compromise formula that the GoM had brought to the table was 50% to mill-owners, 33% to open spaces and 17% to mhada, with both mill-owners and mhada getting double the available fsi. so effectively the mill-owners would enjoy fsi that was equivalent to the normal fsi for the full property and mhada would get fsi equivalent to 33% of the property. most had agreed, the major dissenting voice was nusli wadia, who effectively told the GoM to get lost. and mostly due to that the whole plan collapsed

the above solution would have been near-perfect

Really sounds perfect. Maybe the mill owners should be given an even higher FSI.

yes they are looking to give fsi based on the infrastructure surrounding the property. the WB officials are in town this week so this was one of the major points up for discussion

yes they are looking to give fsi based on the infrastructure surrounding the property. the WB officials are in town this week so this was one of the major points up for discussion

Makes complete sense, I edited my previous post aswell please take a look.

Also, is there anyway for me to help from here?

I don't think HC is offering any urban plans, but more an argument that much of the infrastructure in Bombay can be addressed by private funding, that be paid by builders while allowing for higher towers that will lessen congestion and make it $worthwhile$ for the builder$.

It seems a win-win idea to me.

:doh:

New garbage bins at Fort are stolen in one week (http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=155163)

Bins were imported at Rs 2,700 each. Blame game begin


Couldn't these guys find something better to steal.

ONE YEAR IN OFFICE: The Deshmukh Interview

‘We will clear footpaths, restart slum demolition. By 2006 end, you will compliment me’

Abhiram Ghadyalpatil
Mumbai, October 29 One important lesson 26/7 taught the chief minister of India’s richest state was the importance of image. So former volleyball player and sarpanch Deshmukh (he turned 60 in May) is discarding his cloak of easy informality and casual attitude. He assiduously reads the newspapers, has outsourced daily comment to a new spokesperson, but retains his wit—and his wits. ‘‘Let’s talk development only,’’ suggests Deshmukh, trying to set the course of an interview focussed on Mumbai. Before the meeting—at 10 pm in his colonial bungalow Varsha on tony Malabar Hill—he had his officers release an extensive note on his year in office. Excerpts:
In November 2004, when you assumed charge, you said you would like to go down in history as the chief minister who changed the face of Mumbai for the better. What happened to that Chief Minister?
That chief minister is still very much here. But you (must) appreciate the fact I have completed only one year in office, and it’s not humanly possible for any government to achieve grand goals in such a short span. What I can say is that we have a beginning, and our performance will start showing in 2006.

In 2004, Mumbai found a chief minister who promised to clear the city of slums. But your demolition drive lost steam midway. The slums are back. What went wrong?
The slum-demolition drive has not lost its steam, it’s very much on cards. Till now, we have removed more than 70,000 illegal slums. But there are still 60,000 slums in Mumbai and another 35,000 hutments occupying the mega water-supply pipelines. The larger question is of rehabilitation, and that has forced us to look differently at the entire programme. In 2006, we will go about the illegal-slum demolitition drive in a phased manner. In the first phase, we will remove illegal slums from lands of public utility. In the second, we will zero in on illegal slums and encrochments on land earmarked for Mumbai-makeover projects. In the third, these structures will be demolished and their residents rehabilitated. Have no doubts, we are going to clear footpaths in Mumbai of all encroahments.

But that’s the whole problem. Where is the space for rehabilitation?
That’s why we are going to be project-specific now when it comes to illegal-slum demolition. No programme—be it Mumbai makeover, illegal-slum demolition or rehabilitation—will be done in isolation. That’s the difference I would like to make in 2006. There won’t be demolition if there is no plan and space for rehabilitation. And illegal slums won’t stay once we get going with the Mumbai makeover projects. That’s clear. Haven’t we started removing illegal slums along the Mithi river?

Do you have the political will to go ahead with the slum demolition? Last year, you succumbed to political pressure when the cut-off year for declaring slums illegal was changed from 1995 to 2000 in the Congress-NCP manifesto.
You see (throwing up his hands), I was not there when the manifesto was announced. I came into the picture after that. And I did not succumb to political pressures. But in a democracy, a government cannot wash its hands off its dependants. Then, we have so many so-called messiahs of the poor who are up in arms the moment we go after illegal slums. There are lobbies which insist illegal slums be demolished. A government has to do a balancing act.

But will there be hard decisions on slums in 2006?
Of course there will be. And to answer your earlier question, I do have the political will to crack down on illegal slums and encroachments. You will see that in 2006.

What’s the real progress on Mumbai Makeover, aside from appointing just too many committees?
(Smiles) It’s true. We have formed far too many committees. But they are not the problem. Neither is the lack of coordination between them or other government agencies. Mumbai’s biggest problem is encroachment and the lack of a civic infrastructure to cater to a mammoth population. On the Mumbai makeover, we have identified our projects and sent the proposals to the Centre for consideration under the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM). For the first time in Maharashtra’s history, a government has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for Mumbai only. This fund will be used for NURM projects.

But Mumbai does not meet some of the mandatory parameters to be eligible for NURM...
You are talking of repealing the Urban Land Ceiling Act and the Rent Control Act. On these two issues, there has to be a political consensus, and I am trying for that. About NURM, we have urged the Centre not to be very strict about these parameters. The Prime Minister is personally keen on helping Mumbai, and I am 100 per cent confident that Mumbai will be the first beneficiary under NURM.

Why are you so confident of Central help?
We are lobbying very hard with the Centre. I am not going to be a passive chief minister, watching other states walk away with money and Maharashtra not getting its due. We have appointed two development commissioners for Maharashtra in Delhi to follow up proposals.

The promises
* ‘I have completed only one year in office and it’s not humanly possible for any government to achieve grand goals in such a short span. What I can say is that we have a beginning, and our performance will start showing in 2006’
* ‘For the first time in Maharashtra, a government has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for Mumbai only’
* ‘We are lobbying very hard with the Centre. I am not going to be a passive chief minister, watching other states walk away with money and Maharashtra not getting its due’

What are the lessons you learned from the floods?
First and foremost, we have to be serious with our planning and infrastructure. Before the floods, no one thought about this. Now, we must have a permanent system in place ready to meet a disaster. That’s why we have set up the Disaster Management Authority, which will now have super control over all agencies in an emergency. Second, we need to check the inflow of people into Mumbai. Third, we need to be as careful about development underground as we are about the development on ground, like having proper underground sewage systems etc. That’s what the Mumbai Makeover is all about.

The NCP is hogging the limelight with decisions like the banning of dance bars. Does Congress ideology support such moral policing?
(Becomes angry) You people don’t know the background to the dance-bar ban. (Deputy Chief Minister) R R Patil did not announce it on his own in the House. People compelled us to take that decision, which I am proud we took. It’s not a question of ideology or taking away credit. We are an alliance government and, in this case, it was a decision taken by the entire House with prior consent from me taken by Patil. I have never felt that I am running a two-party government.

Are you satisfied with your performance?
Not fully. I guess one should never be. But let me assure you, you will compliment me on changing the face of Mumbai for the better.

abhiram@expressindia.com

Attn Mumbaikars...

We could use some weighing in on the problem I discovered after drawing Ashok Towers:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5053/temp8ct.png
Per known information, it is officially taller than SD Towers.

I explained in greater detail the problem (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=263893&page=2&pp=20) in that thread.

But could use some 'local' advice.

The demolition drive in Delhi has exposed the builder-politician-MCD nexus to the whole world. It is the same story in every part of the country, its just that Mumbai and Delhi lead from the front.
There is a similar drive on in Ulhasnagar, but given the pussies that regional poiticians are, it will be over because once again, vested interests win. However, so as to not give the impression of being outright debilitated, they have promised action against erring officials and builders. And also, what happens to people like Pappu Kalani?

Taking the theme of footpaths from another thread, the word footpath in non-existant in most urban authorities' dictionary. There is a reason for it, its because it encroaches upon the people's right to encroach.

Maharashtra govt’s exit route: Ulhasnagar legal (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=84830)

As the demolition drive against illegal buildings in Delhi picks up pace, a similar exercise—also under court order—in Mumbai’s distant suburb Ulhasnagar may soon end. The Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra has buckled under political pressure and decided to regularise virtually all unauthorised structures and encroachments constructed till January 1, 2005 in the refugee township.

An order passed by the Bombay High Court in April had directed the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation to demolish 855 listed unauthorised structures.

But the demolition began on November 24, a day after the court pulled up the then Municipal Commissioner delay—only five buildings have been demolished so far.

The ordinance, when promulgated, will regularise all illegal structures—commercial and residential—built till the cut-off date and have violated the Floor Space Index (FSI) limit up to 4 (see box). To get legalised, the owner will have to shell out a regularisation fee and development cost to the government, which could be around 20 per cent of the present market cost of the structure.

At the same time, apparently to show that it is getting tough against the builders and architects responsible to unauthorised structures in Ulhasnagar, the government has also decided to ‘‘find them out and take legal action against them.’’

The government will conduct another probe and take action against civic officials and elected representatives if found guilty.

But the government is silent on what action it proposes to take against the 14 officials already indicted by the Nand Lal Committee in 1999.

A beaming Pappu Kalani, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator from Ulhasnagar, who sat in the lobby of ‘Sahyadri’—the Maharashtra state guest house where the cabinet meeting was held—said the government decision would save 80 per cent of the illegal buildings.

Most of the buildings were constructed between 1986 and 1992, when Kalani headed the municipal council. He is a four-time MLA from Ulhasnagar.

the more things change the more they remain the same

vilasrao recently said that after the monsoons the demolition of slums would continue. what happened? the monsoons got over a few months back. instead of less slums i see new ones sprouting up all the time, esp on roads

Maybe these poor people should simply work harder and not expect free fish from the gov't, that way they will be able to buy proper homes. And BTW, the upcoming increase in manufacturing jobs in the secondary sector in India will eventually lead to a gradual increase in their wages, plus these migrants will have to get actual job skills as well (and won't have to eke out a living by selling stuff that's been dug up from dumpsters).

As for beggars, well, don't give anythign to them, Indian beggars are too lazy to get real jobs. SO don't give them anything and hope that they eventually decide to make themselves useful.

One of India's biggest urban failures is the absymal public housing. We have already talked about this in the Mumbai projects thread. When the migrant working classes have no decent housing to move to, they move to the slums, which exist for precisely the same reason in the first place.

And talking of jobs, a point in case is that it is said that the annual economic activity of Dharavi is around a billion dollars. I think most people have the drive, its just the successive governments have only used them as voting tools.

two words - rent control

Hand in glove (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=84834)

Ulhasnagar shows how Congress rules Maharashtra. What lies in store for India?

The decision by Maharashtra’s NCP-Congress government to issue an ordinance regularising all illegal buildings in the area — the cut off date is January 1, 2005 — brings on a much larger disillusion. It confirms that the government lacks the will and the nerve to break the complicities that feed the nexus between the builder mafia, civic officials and councillors to take over the city. In Ulhasnagar, on the edge of Mumbai, the High Court ordered the demolitions of illegal structures and the Supreme Court refused to entertain petitions challenging the High Court order. Yet, the politicians have conspired to disrespect the courts. Pappu Kalani must be laughing.

But this is not really about one Maharashtra bully and his allegedly fattening stockpiles of protection money, either. The Vilasrao Deshmukh government’s retreat in Ulhasnagar is alarming for the signals it sends out to those like him about the Congress’s weak stomach wherever it is confronted with the challenge of real reform. Like the state government in Delhi. If the roll-back has been announced in Mumbai, can the same sorry denouement be far behind in Delhi, where legislators of the Congress have bonded with the BJP to make the same retrograde noises on illegal constructions?

This should be a moment of pause for the Congress High Command. In Maharashtra, it has been seen to take just too many crucial steps backward — be it the party’s acquiescence to the NCP-sponsored Talibanesque morality play on dance bars, or the government’s timid about-turn on clearance of the slums choking the metropolis. For a party that scraped through the last assembly elections, defying the anti-incumbency factor, to steer the country’s industrial nerve centre again, there may not be many more chances, if this one is frittered away.

Midday's analysis (the World Bank and UN stats are often to be taken with lots of salt). :)

Every second person in city lives in a slum

http://web.mid-day.com/1news/city/2006/january/128048.htm

Latest statistics made available by the World Bank reveal that almost 54 per cent of Mumbaikars live in slums today. Another 25 to 30 per cent live in chawls and footpaths, which leaves just 10 to 15 per cent who, live in buildings, bungalows or high-rises. From being known as slum capital of the country, Mumbai is now all set to become the slum capital of the world.

Migration has to stop

Professor R N Sharma, head of the Urban Studies unit in Tata Institute of Social Sciences says that Mumbai is undoubtedly disintegrating into slums.
“Thanks to migration, the city’s population is rising rapidly. Already 67 per cent of the city works in the informal sector. If the World Bank estimate of the city reaching a population of 2.25 crore by 2025 is true, slums will be everywhere.” It is estimated that 100 to 300 new families come to Mumbai every day and most land up in a slum colony or just erect a shanty on the nearest available footpath.

It’s all bunkum

However, A Jockin of SPARC, the NGO that works for slums, said that the rehabilitation process is the only way out. “This talk about Mumbai having predominantly slums is rubbish. Already 67 per cent of slums on railway land have been re-settled. The airport project and the rehabilitation near Mithi River is also happening at a good pace. These figures of slum population rising is not true.”
_______________________________________

Gaadi, bangla hai, bank balance bhi hai...

Slum dwellers Midday spoke to, choose to live in slums, though most have apartments elsewhere. No, they aren’t ashamed and instead of a squalid, poverty-stricken existence, they probably have more luxuries than you can dream of. Vinod Kumar Menon of Midday is surprised. The second part (where's the first?) in the Midday series on Mumbai’s slums:

Mohammed R Shaikh (52)
From: Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, Ghatkopar (E)
Occupation: Mandap decorator
House: Two-floors, 300 sq feet (ground floor is converted into a godown)
Expenses: Rs 20 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, AC, washing machines, telephones, marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 350,000
Vehicle: A jeep, a three-wheeler and two motorcycles

Lallu Imdad Khan (55)
From: Cheeta Camp, Trombay
Occupation: Exporter
House: Three-floors, 1,800 sq feet
Expenses: Rs 400 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, AC, washing machine, telephones, computer, marble flooring
Value of house: Rs 1,500,000+
Vehicle: Scorpio

Dr Padma Vishwanath Khade (32)
From: Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, Ghatkopar (E)
Occupation: Gynaecologist
House: Ground-floor, 300 sq feet
Expenses: Rs 20 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone charges
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, computer, music system, washing machine, telephones and marble flooring
Value of house: Rs 400,000
Vehicle: A Maruti Zen

S Khan (64)
From: Shivajinagar, Govandi (E)
Occupation: Special executive officer
House: Two-floors, 600 sq feet
Monthly expenses: Rs 100 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, washing machine, chandeliers, telephones and marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 600,000
Vehicle: Tempo

Jitendra Sonawane (32)
From: Sant Kakkaya Marg, Dharavi
Occupation: Leather supplier
House: Two-floors, 200 sq feet
Monthly Expenses: Rs 25 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, telephones, marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 400,000
Vehicle: Maruti 800, 2 two-wheelers


For the full article
http://web.mid-day.com/1news/city/2006/january/128125.htm

:hahah: :hahah: :hahah: DAMN!! A gynaecologist living in a slum!! Thats f**** funny!
I fail to understand why though.

Hmm interesting. So am I supposed to feel bad for these ppl when illegal structures likes Slums are demolished? Isn't this quite the epitamy of selfishness? No concern for their city or disruptions caused by their slums, these ppl only care about themselves.

Sure it was a CPM decision to halt the demolitions aswell. They could have pressured Sonia Gandhi to stop the demolitions and inturn Deshmukh had to. Its sure nice that we get a glimpse of the 'common man' this party represents.

Obviously a vast majority of ppl living in slums arent 'living it up'.... uhmm. what are we do to?

Midday's analysis (the World Bank and UN stats are often to be taken with lots of salt). :)

Every second person in city lives in a slum

http://web.mid-day.com/1news/city/2006/january/128048.htm

Latest statistics made available by the World Bank reveal that almost 54 per cent of Mumbaikars live in slums today. Another 25 to 30 per cent live in chawls and footpaths, which leaves just 10 to 15 per cent who, live in buildings, bungalows or high-rises. From being known as slum capital of the country, Mumbai is now all set to become the slum capital of the world.

Migration has to stop

Professor R N Sharma, head of the Urban Studies unit in Tata Institute of Social Sciences says that Mumbai is undoubtedly disintegrating into slums.
“Thanks to migration, the city’s population is rising rapidly. Already 67 per cent of the city works in the informal sector. If the World Bank estimate of the city reaching a population of 2.25 crore by 2025 is true, slums will be everywhere.” It is estimated that 100 to 300 new families come to Mumbai every day and most land up in a slum colony or just erect a shanty on the nearest available footpath.

It’s all bunkum

However, A Jockin of SPARC, the NGO that works for slums, said that the rehabilitation process is the only way out. “This talk about Mumbai having predominantly slums is rubbish. Already 67 per cent of slums on railway land have been re-settled. The airport project and the rehabilitation near Mithi River is also happening at a good pace. These figures of slum population rising is not true.”
_______________________________________

Gaadi, bangla hai, bank balance bhi hai...

Slum dwellers Midday spoke to, choose to live in slums, though most have apartments elsewhere. No, they aren’t ashamed and instead of a squalid, poverty-stricken existence, they probably have more luxuries than you can dream of. Vinod Kumar Menon of Midday is surprised. The second part (where's the first?) in the Midday series on Mumbai’s slums:

Mohammed R Shaikh (52)
From: Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, Ghatkopar (E)
Occupation: Mandap decorator
House: Two-floors, 300 sq feet (ground floor is converted into a godown)
Expenses: Rs 20 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, AC, washing machines, telephones, marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 350,000
Vehicle: A jeep, a three-wheeler and two motorcycles

Lallu Imdad Khan (55)
From: Cheeta Camp, Trombay
Occupation: Exporter
House: Three-floors, 1,800 sq feet
Expenses: Rs 400 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, AC, washing machine, telephones, computer, marble flooring
Value of house: Rs 1,500,000+
Vehicle: Scorpio

Dr Padma Vishwanath Khade (32)
From: Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, Ghatkopar (E)
Occupation: Gynaecologist
House: Ground-floor, 300 sq feet
Expenses: Rs 20 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone charges
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, computer, music system, washing machine, telephones and marble flooring
Value of house: Rs 400,000
Vehicle: A Maruti Zen

S Khan (64)
From: Shivajinagar, Govandi (E)
Occupation: Special executive officer
House: Two-floors, 600 sq feet
Monthly expenses: Rs 100 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, washing machine, chandeliers, telephones and marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 600,000
Vehicle: Tempo

Jitendra Sonawane (32)
From: Sant Kakkaya Marg, Dharavi
Occupation: Leather supplier
House: Two-floors, 200 sq feet
Monthly Expenses: Rs 25 towards BMC service charges, excluding electricity and telephone
Amenities: Fridge, colour TV, telephones, marble flooring
Value of house: Over Rs 400,000
Vehicle: Maruti 800, 2 two-wheelers


For the full article
http://web.mid-day.com/1news/city/2006/january/128125.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1371821.cms

Decongesting Mumbai


Vinod Mathew

SUBASH Saha looks barely 18 though he claims to be 24 years old. He has been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai during night hours for the past six years. Which means he could have started driving either at 12 or 18. In all probability, the truth would be that he started off ferrying passengers on Mumbai streets when 14 or 15.

In and around Mumbai, you just cannot miss these youngsters who ply the autorickshaws only during the night hours. No, these boys do not go to school or college during the day and make a living during the night. Saha sleeps through the daytime so that he can become a cog in the machine that runs Mumbai's nightlife.

Saha, like many others, is from some remote part of Bihar and has made the cut as a `night driver' in an autorickshaw hired out to an older or pucca driver during daytime. He pays Rs 150 as daily rent to the owner and gets to drive the autorickshaw between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

At one level, such double shifts that make room for more people to come into Mumbai can be termed brilliant improvisation — something that goes hand in glove with the ethos of the city. They also add to the burgeoning slums, where almost 60 per cent of the city's population now dwell.

The numbers overwhelmingly prove why the politicians almost always side with slum-dwellers and blink their eyes at unauthorised constructions whenever the issues get tricky. The judiciary-initiated Ulhas Nagar demolitions that the Maharashtra Government dexterously short-circuited by way of an ordinance is a case in point.

Surely, there is no slum-dwellers' interests that the State Government needs to protect in building a flyover across the crowded Pedder Road, a project that has been given the technical feasibility nod by IIT, Mumbai. Yet, it is on hold at an emotional level, with public figures who reside in the area, led by the redoubtable Lata Mangeshkar, raising the pitch in asserting that such a facility would not be in sync with their wishes.

For them, peace of mind can prevail only by maintaining the status quo. And that means tens of thousands of vehicles crawling up and down their way each day en route the business district of South Mumbai.

It is another matter that a similar project has already been successfully executed to ease traffic to and from South Mumbai — the JJ Flyover.

Talking of providing infrastructure support to business districts, Singapore has led the way, levying a congestion charge to dissuade individuals from driving to work in busy areas. The toll thus collected is diverted to strengthening its public transport system. The system has been working wonderfully well.

The London initiative is more recent and can, at best, only be described as a mixed bag. The mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, who introduced congestion charge for those driving into the city on Thames in 2003, is now considering an improved version, including variable and higher rates and also expanding the extent of the `congested' area.

Says Mr Abraham George, currently on holiday in India and whose daily routine involves travelling from Surrey to Central London, where he works for the UK Government: "I have been driving to London for work for the past 17 years. I did not budge when the 25 pound-a-week congestion charge was introduced a couple of years back. But now the Mayor plans to raise it to 40 pounds a week. So, I identified a good bus service that would cost me only eight pounds a week. Once back home, I will be taking the bus daily to work".

Other cities such as New York are considering such a move to decongest their business and financial hubs. Will the Mumbai administration ever think of levying such a charge from those travelling into its business district?

Surely, any such toll could raise significant revenue for improving public transport in the city. And those who insist on driving to the business capital may gladly pay or get their employers to pay on their behalf.

Getting the city cabbies or their passengers to cough up, say, an additional Rs 50 per trip to Nariman Point could, however, be fraught with problems. Such issues do not worry Saha as autorickshaws are, even otherwise, not allowed beyond Bandra. He is off looking for the big ride of the night that will take him into the far-off suburbs and not towards the city.

The closure of the `dance bars' notwithstanding, the city still has a lot of nightlife and revellers collapse into a taxi or an autorickshaw for the long drive home.

And who says there are no more dance bars, quips Saha, before vrooming off to prowl the Mumbai streets once again.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/01/18/stories/2006011802991100.htm

i would take public transport over my car to nariman point. if they gave me clean, comfortable, extensive transport. not spread out stations, overcrowded trains full of sweaty people and overcrowded footpaths full of hawkers and slum-dwellers

it can easily be implemented if the hutments and hawkers are removed, pavements are improved and the metro rail kicks off

The great thing about Mumbai is that there is transportation throughout the night and it is generally safe.

Migrants with low skillset will always come looking for work in Mumbai because Mumbai seems to have an endless number of low skill (and low paying) jobs.

However the slums are formed because the government/administration looks the other way. The day the government/administration says no to slums, poor migrants will think twice about coming in. After all everyone needs a roof. No city other than in India allows people to put up camp wherever they feel like. Poverty is just an excuse for a government and administration which doesn't have any planning or governing capability.

The government should build massive EWS housing in the outskirts with proper transport connections. This can be subsidized by taxes from high end towers in the city itself where demand for upscale housing is on the rise.

The government should build massive EWS housing in the outskirts with proper transport connections. This can be subsidized by taxes from high end towers in the city itself where demand for upscale housing is on the rise.

Why should the government do it? Maybe a private company should move into the low-cost housing sector instead.

For example, why not manufacture standarized, low-cost homes that can be transported really easily and sell them to poor people. In addition, these homes can be deployed in various existing slums, which will also be redeveloped as green spaces (and as high-rise districts).

Why should the government do it? Maybe a private company should move into the low-cost housing sector instead.


thats the idea. The private company does the planing and manufacturing ,the state pays the bill.

nothing will happen till they repeal rent control. we need low-cost rental housing for migrant workers, not flats for outright sale

A tongue in cheek / sarcastic article

The Midday Campaign
http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2006/january/128810.htm

The Home Minister of Maharashtra has stated that the ordinance staying illegal demolitions in Ulhasnagar was necessary because those affected are Sindhis, who have already suffered greatly at the time of Partition. This, dear reader, is how politicians give everything a communal hue. Mid Day went out and spoke to a cross section of Sindhis in the city to get their view, starting with Anil Thakraney, who spoke out quite clearly in his column in Sunday Mid Day.


Our slum-loving governor

So the governor (synonym for unwanted / retired mantri) has done the frightening inevitable, no doubt pushed by that frantic call from Italy, oops, Delhi. He has overlooked the court’s orders and has passed an ordinance okaying illegal structures in Ulhasnagar, and has thereby written the death warrant for this city.

He has overlooked the court’s orders and has passed an ordinance okaying illegal structures in Ulhasnagar, and has thereby written the death warrant for this city.

Now every illegal encroacher in Mumbai is going to push his case for regularization. And every squatter is going to put up a jhopda where his heart desires, and will run to the Raj Bhavan with an application form. Just imagine what will happen to Slumbai if this ordinance rules.

Despite being a Sindhi (my folks had to settle down in Ulhasnagar after the partition, indeed we still own that tiny barrack), I am with the High Court in the matter of demolitions.

Sure, one must feel sad for the hapless victims, it must be heart-breaking to see your dream house, one that you spent your life’s earnings on, come down like a pack of cards.

Still, we have to accept that the courts are right… every single unauthorized structure in Ulhasnagar has to go, the government’s rationale that the place be given special consideration because that’s where refugees arrived after the 1947 cut is bullshit.

Most of these buildings have come up in recent years, and therefore Mohammed Ali Jinnah cannot be blamed for them.

In fact demolitions in Ulhasnagar could have served as a precedent for the rest of Mumbai city, we need to knock every encroacher from our streets, from around our airports, from behind our homes. We could have used Ulhasnagar as a starting point of Operation Clean Mumbai, and let it reach the tip of Cuffe Parade.

We simply cannot have people squatting on public spaces, spaces that we need free for movement and our very existence.

But alas, once again Signora has kicked some weak arse, and has made the city pay a heavy price to protect her party’s vote bank. I, for one, am planning to build a shack right outside the swank Raj Bhavan. No doubt Shri Krishna will welcome me with high tea and cauliflower pakodas.

Maharashtra mulls repeal of ULCA (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86336)

A week after CM Vilasrao Deshmukh conveyed to the Centre the state’s inability to repeal the outdated Urban Land Ceiling Act (ULCA) 1976, the government has decided to set a time frame to repeal it.

The move is aimed at availing funds for Mumbai under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Mantralaya sources said.

A few days ago, Deshmukh had conveyed to the Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy the state’s inability to repeal the ULCA saying it was loaded with political problems. Reddy, however, had insisted on the scrapping of the Act and linked it to JNNURM funds.

he Rs 5,500 crore mission proposes to take up infrastructure development, water supply, slum improvement, housing, and sanitation projects in the select cities. But the mandatory reforms these cities have to carry out include repealing the ULCA and reforms in the Rent Control Act. Mumbai and Kolkata are the only two cities which have not carried out these two mandatory reforms.

The other notable mandatory reforms under the JNNURM are reforming rent control laws so that interests of landlords and tenants are balanced, rationalisation of stamp duty, and reforms in property tax recovery system.

so if i get this right, either they can build another Shanghai, or protect their vote banks and spew BS, and I believe Maharashtra has chosen the latter.

still planning.........

M'shtra plans rationalisation of FSI, industrial licensing policy (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&leftindx=1&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=215474)

The state government is considering rationalisation of floor space index (FSI) and industrial licensing policy for the Mumbai metropolitan region to restore Mumbai’s primacy, said Sanjay Ubale, secretary, special projects.

He further said the city limit should not be restricted to Mahim or Dahisar only but should be expanded to include Thane, Kalyan, Navi Mumbai, Panvel and other parts of the metropolitan region. Mumbai can remain globally competitive only if it is supported by the manufacturing and services sectors.

For this purpose, the government is considering rationalisation of FSI in select nodes of the city for relieving congestion, for facilitating the creation of urban infrastructure, in overall context of urban renewal, he added.

He said there should be a productive use of 1,600 acres of land lying with the Mumbai Port Trust. Nearly one-third of it remains unutilised and encroached upon.

According to him, 1973, 1976 and 1991 were critical for Mumbai, which sent the city on a declining trajectory.

Elaborating on this point, Ubale said in 1973, City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) was created for the development of Navi Mumbai so that commercial activities could be shifted there to reduce burden on Mumbai. But CIDCO at best created a dormitory for Mumbai.

In 1976, the Urban Land Ceiling Act was implemented, which created artificial shortage of land supply in the city and land prices went through the roof.

In 1991, the central government enacted the Coastal Regulation Zone Act robbing the city of a large chunk of land for development around its central business district.

Read this report to understand the impact of true impact of draconian FSI restrictions on Mumbai.

http://alain-bertaud.com/AB_Files/AB_Mumbai_FSI_conundrum.pdf

Mumbai right now has an fsi ratio of 1:1 which means to build a building that is 200m high you need to own 200m of land. This is completely unreasonable given that mumbai is an island and the supply of land is limited...

If you were wondering why mumbai is so choked with midrises and high without any supertalls, and lacking a real urban highrise core, now you know.

Also the inability to build tall buildings pushes the prices for flats out of reach of the average person and leads to the creation of slums.

slums are probably more due to rent control and ulca than just fsi. rent control means no low-cost rental housing and locked up housing stock. which leads to slums

rent control is the biggest urban problem in india

BMC proposes, traffic dept disposes

Concretisation Of Roads In Island City Hangs In The Balance

By Clara Lewis/TNN

Mumbai: Harried motorists will have to wait longer for a pleasurable drive on south Mumbai’s roads—perhaps until after the rains.
Road concreting work in the island city has run into a roadblock, thanks to a stand-off between BMC officials and the traffic police. Civic officials allege that the police are making them run from pillar to post for paperwork and refusing permission to dig up roads. But according to the cops multiple agencies are putting up requests, leading to confusion.
The municipal corporation has taken up 60 km of arterial road for concreting at a cost of Rs 342 crore. The work orders were issued in May last year, with the civic body wanting to complete 60% of the works before the monsoon. “We are at our wits’ end. If the permissions do not come in time, the work will only be delayed and then there will be problems in the monsoon for which the BMC will be blamed,’’ said civic officials.
But traffic commissioner Satish Mathur blames the civic body saying there were as many as 15 civic departments—not to mention other utility agencies—who want to dig up the city roads at the same time.
The urgency is because no road improvement work can be carried out after May 10, which is the deadline set by the N V Merani committee that has been advising the BMC on improving the city’s roads. Civic officials point out that while the problem was in the island city there were no such issues in the suburbs.
“The traffic police was informed about the roads to be taken up for improvement prior to the work orders being issued. The traffic commissioner had in-principle agreed to grant permission. But it is officials at the local level who are creating a hurdle,’’ said sources.
They said while permission was granted to dig up a stretch of the Maharashi Karve road, that has been taken up for concreting, the traffic police for over a month has been refusing permission to take up the rest of the road. “Along buildings, the traffic police granted us permission but near the cemetery from Marine Lines to Churchgate they have been consistently refusing it. Where they could
have been a problem they readily agreed but where there is no such problem they turn down our request,’’ said officials. On the other hand, one side of the road outside the Oval maidan has been completed but the traffic police refuse to open it for traffic. “They are not granting us permission to do the other side of the road nor are they opening the completed section to traffic. It is now being used as a parking lot,’’ added officials.
Pointing out difficulties in granting permission, Mathur said the BMC had parcelled out work to 6-7 contractors on the same road. “Despite road improvement work, we have to ensure that traffic is smooth. If we allow all the contractors to dig up the roads, traffic will come to a standstill. For instance work on the Metro junction is still on, how can we allow the Mahapalika Marg to be dug up ?’’ he asked.

[/b]More trains: Borivli-Virar commuters repeat plea[/b]

Mumbai: Rail satyagrahis, who had disrupted suburban services between Dahisar and Virar on December 10, to highlight the plight of commuters travelling beyond Borivli, were back on Sunday. This time they sat outside Vasai railway station to draw the attention of officials to the pathetic conditions in which commuters travel. Rail services were not affected.
Residents and residential organisations between Dahisar and Virar, under the banner of the Pravas Adhikar Andolan Samith, began their protest outside at 9.00 am and ended it at 5 pm. Shouting slogans against the railway administration, they reiterated their demand to increase the number of services between Virar and Andheri. They also criticised Western Railway for delaying quadrupling work between Borivli and Virar. Activists told TOI that the protest may be taken to other railway stations at a later date.
K K Prakashan, an activist of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, which had taken the lead in organising the protest said, “Soon after the rail satyagraha there seemed to be some enthusiasm on the part of the railways. But commuters’ problems remain the same.’’ Prakashan was among those arrested by the police after the December satyagraha.
He said commuters beyond Dahisar have been hearing about the third and fourth line for a long time. “The plight of commuters is getting worse. People keep getting pushed out of trains, but the project is dragging,’’ he said. The activist said the quadrupling project had come to a standstill, despite the shifting hutments at Dahisar. “The real issue is shortage of trains. Till the railways procure additional trains, the project will be left untouched,’’ said Prakashan.
Sources in WR said rakes were indeed an issue. The new rakes are expected to come in only by December. Further, the rakes which were on a trial run with them were moved to CR. TNN

BMC chief recalls retd official to start project

As Engineers Delay Work On Sewage Pumping Stations

By Clara Lewis/TNN

Mumbai: Municipal commissioner Johny Joseph has been forced to recall retired deputy municipal commissioner P R Sanglikar to implement the Rs 200-crore sewage pumping station project after senior civic engineers reportedly refused to do the needful.
In its interim report, the Madhav Chitale committee—set up after the 26/7 floods—had recommended that pumping stations should be set up before the next monsoon. During high tide, the floodgates are closed to prevent the reverse flow of sea water into the nullahs. This, however, can increase the level of water within the nullah particularly if heavy rains coincide with high tide. So, a pumping station is required to pump out water past the floodgates through a separate channel.
When the interim report was submitted in January, the civic administration decided to construct pumping stations at Love Grove, Haji Ali and Cleveland near INS Trata in Worli and the Irla nullah in Vile Parle. “Since we have about three months before the monsoon, we are aiming for at least one-third of the recommended capacity at Love Grove and Irla by June 20,’’ sources said.
Sanglikar, who retired on January 31, had drafted and invited tenders within two days of the decision to set up pumping stations on January 21. “The engineering department had asked for a month whereas Sanglikar proposed to do it in two days, so Joseph assigned him the task,’’ said the sources.
The civic engineers alleged that Kiran Choudhary, director (engineering and special projects) and D T Dange, chief engineer, sewerage operations, were bypassed and not shown the draft document.
Though nine tender documents were purchased, only two companies—M/s Pratibha Petron and M/s Kirloskar Brothers Ltd—bid for the mega project. A committee set up to scrutinise the technical and commercial packet in its report said the tender specifications were not based on any feasibility study nor were detailed engineering specifications provided. Only a fortnight was given to the companies to submit their bids thereby resulting in poor response and incomplete offers. The report said clearance from the ministry of environment and forests was mandatory as the work fell in the Coastal Regulation Zone I and II and each cost more than Rs 50 crore. Besides an Environmental Impact Assessment needed to be done, all of which would take six to 12 months.
Work will also be delayed due to shifting and diversion of underground utilities, which means that the basic premise for rushing the tender would not be met.
The report stated, “As the proposed project is very huge amounting to Rs 200 crore, it would be advisable to implement it with a scientific feasibility study, including clearances from the state and central government by hiring renowned consultants to oversee it from start to finish’’.
Sources, however, countered that necessary safeguards like financial guarantee and a five-year maintenance clause had been taken.
A senior civic official said the engineers were giving excuses to avoid making a decision. “Since 1992 no work has been done though the pumping stations have been recommended in the Brimstowad report. The choice is between saving the city or letting it submerge,’’ said the official.
On Friday, Joseph at a meeting with senior engineers made it clear that the project would go ahead.

Huge infrastructure projects will create many jobs: MMRDA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: If the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is to be believed, the next decade may see the creation of several lakh jobs, thanks to its plans of many a gigantic infrastructure project and their multiplier effect on the city’s economy.
Quoting from a study taken up by the McKinsey Global Institute, an arm of the giant MNC consulting firm, the joint project director (media) for Mumbai Urban Transport Project(MUTP), Dilip Kawathkar, said research showed many jobs will be generated by the several schemes which the MMRDA is undertaking.
The World Bank-financed Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) and the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) have necessitated the involvement of massive manpower, skilled, semi-skilled and professionals for the widening of the city’s roads and the construction of road overbridges in various parts of the city. The projects that involve a total cost of Rs 7,000 crore have also generated white collar jobs in their many schemes.
The MMRDA is also in charge of implementation of the Metro rail project, the first phase of which will cost Rs 1,500 crore. However, the first three phases, that require to be completed within the next decade, will ultimately cost over Rs 12,000 crore.
The study presented by McKinsey Global Institute throws light on the interrelated growth of employment in the city. The research highlights three types of services: high-end, low end and manufacturing.
“In the high-end services, which consist of financial, health care, IT, media and entertainment, more than two lakh jobs will be opened up,’’ said Kawathkar, adding that an improved transport connection will only boost these services.
Construction, hotels, tourism, recreation and retail services come under the low-end services. “According to the survey, the estimated number of job opportunities to be created in this sector by 2015 will stand at around 5.5 lakh,’’ he added.
The third segment, in which manufacturing plays an important role, will also include transportation and logistical services and is tipped to generate about two lakh jobs.

Lack of "Common Sense" in our babucratic rules?

Green notice makes Navi Mumbai realtors see red
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1014236

Hundreds of new multi-crore construction projects in Navi Mumbai are on hold for want of environmental clearance stipulated by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The ministry has issued a notification stating that projects costing Rs50 crore and more or those generating 50,000 litres of waste a day or housing 1,000 residents should obtain environmental clearance from it before seeking the commencement certificate (CC).
In Navi Mumbai, the bone of contention is the clause on waste treatment. The clause says that any project that would generate ‘50,000 litres of waste a day’ should have sewage treatment facilities.

City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has, over the fortnight, been directing those seeking CCs to approach the MoEF for clearance. Projects that are already under construction — the MoEF notification was first issued in July 2004 and amended in August-September 2005 — have been told get the clearance before seeking occupancy certificate.

But Bhupendra Shah of Bhumiraj Constructions says since Navi Mumbai is a planned city, builders should be exempted from seeking such a clearance. Rajesh Prajapati of Prajapati Builders and trustee of Navi Mumbai Builders Association says, “CIDCO has already made provisions for sewage treatment plants, parks in this planned city; asking individual builders to ensure the same and seek environment clearance doesn’t make sense”.

Shah adds that time taken to get the clearance (believed to be between six months and a year) makes it unfeasible. “CIDCO mandates that all projects should be completed within four years, failing which heavy penalties will be imposed. We won’t be able to complete our projects in time if getting a clearance alone takes so long,” says Shah.

CIDCO Managing Director Arun Sinha dashed off a letter to MOEF on February 6, asking that “new towns like Navi Mumbai being developed by state-owned organisations like CIDCO for the past 20-30 years, and the developments being taken up within such new towns, be exempted from the purview of the notification”.

Pointing out that CIDCO has made “all required provisions for water supply, sewerage and storm water drainage systems as per prescribed standards of the residents and in consultation with experts”, the letter adds that the Corporation allots developed plots to individual owners or developers “after ensuring placement of these infrastructure facilities.”

Sinha says that about 3,400 ha has been set aside as no-development zone, 6,900 ha of the area as Regional Park Zone and 1.7 million saplings have been planted in the city. In view of this, he argues, “environment clearance may not be required for Navi Mumbai New Town project”.

MoEF has not responded yet.

hello all. . your blogs have inspired me to sign up. I'm a spatial design student from london working on some sort of project on mumbais slums and. . well. . mumbai really, if we accept that mumbai is 60% slums. .
what do you think - shall i start another thread to discuss mumbai's slum environment, and its relationship to the city? got much to say about it? i've got lots to share but i need you! . . um thanks

Well share with us what you know...

:)

well. . . to brief you about the project i am working on. . it is to do with the perception and understanding of the slums we have (though i am in london, i mean those of us who live, physically or mentally in mumbai) . .
we're all aware of magic solutions. . mill lands, salt pan lands, BPT.. an end to builder-politician nexuses, transparent policies on housing and long termism. . but what is the current situation in regard to the slum-city relationship?
sorry if i sound a bit fluffy. .
is there an accurate acknowledgement in terms of what the slums contribute to the city, not just economically but socially, even aesthetically? what i became upset about was the one dimensional view we seem to take on slums: in short they are a PROBLEM. . the fermenting grounds for dodgy politics, blocked drains, vermin, crime, global warming, alien invasions etc. the sensation i had whenever i worked or photographed in the slums was one of intense curiosity and vitality (ugh sorry to sound so 'poetic' but it was what i felt). .
is it totally taboo to even discuss them not as problem areas to be treated symptomatically, but as fascinating studies in informal spatial organisation, spatial functioning, navigation, vernacular design, informal methods of construction, efficiency, modular living . . for me the interest went far beyond what may initially be distasteful or hard to take.

phew, a bit of a romantic monologue. .
do you think there can be anything positive to be gained or observed from what i think are such rich environments, apart from wondering "how to fix them"?
i am aware that taking a wholly romanticized view is naive; i'm not trying to deny the problems slums have, but just to have a parallel discussion about the spaces inhabited by the city majority

ps i dont know how to put pics up on here i'm very new to blogging/forums

just a further apologia [its a more qualitative discussion than a quantative one, but i believe there must be room for that in design. . otherwise we would all be machines of efficiency, and low cost high rise towerblocks would really work as the utopian way forward]

The first thing to realize is that people in slums are human beings and they have as much rights as every other citizen. Slums are a result of the failure of governance and not the failure of the hapless people who live in them.

We cannot just go and demolish slums and throw out people. If needed don't allow slums to come up. But the government shouldn't punish the people because it failed to enforce the law in the first place and probably took bribes from them too.

I have been to some of the Worli, Dharavi, Wadala and Kurla slums. They are just horrible and the conditions are inhuman. How can we accept such inhuman conditions is beyond my understanding. Yet the people living there seem to be resigned to such conditions and seem to be happy that they have something to call a roof.

The government merely passes the buck by acting as if it is doing the people a favour by allowing them to stay in such terrible conditions.

The politicians use the slums as potential votebanks by terrorising them through thugs. And they indulge in politics of slum regularization as sops for votes.

The rich are not too bothered as long as they get all the services (bai, driver, guard) dirt cheap. Exploitation of poor people by the rich is just too common and you should see how the rich people speak with the poor in commanding tones. There is no respect at all and there is no dignity of labour.
Although I think that is changing with the new generation of rich kids who have been brought up in a more liberal and less classless India unlike their feudal era parents.

I think the people (apart from slum dwellers themselves) who understand the plight best of the slum dwellers is the middle class ( a lot of middle class is also forced to live in slums). At least that is what I would like to believe. The spirit of Mumbai is in the common Mumbaikar. They are so friendly. That spirit was seen in the recent floods. I have heard countless stories of generosity.

When I lived in Mumbai I never felt anything to fear from slum dwellers. But of course one had to use common sense. The only thing that I used to think is OMG how the hell are we going to do something about it.

I think lots of people are doing lots of things to make life easier for the slum dwellers. But not sure there is a massive co-ordinated effort.

That's my 2 cents. Not sure I made sense about slum-city relationship.

Bombay Boy or Kshatriya can probably add a lot more about what they feel about the slum-city relationship.

well with such idiotic laws in place you either have two options. you allow slums or you dont let poor people into the city. rent control, ulca, etc have made the situation such that large areas of the city lie undeveloped, no one wants to make fresh rental housing, thousands of old flats are locked up as the landlord is scared of renting them out and there is no churn in the rental market as old tenants dont move out as they are paying pathetic amounts as rents and their titles are even passed on to the next generation

with a large migratory population what you need is massive amounts of rental housing but right now the laws are such that only someone who wants to literally burn his money would invest in it

most of india's problems can be traced to its laws and its judiciary. clean that up and market forces will themselves present an alternative. right now its hugely incentivised to either expensive out-right sales or illegal slums

what i would like for bombay though is at least the most visible slums and slums on roads, railways, etc to be cleared. there is no doubt that they are illegal and if the law has to be applied to all. caveat emptor

Hey tonta , you might want to see a flick "Salaam Bombay" , which revolves around life of slum-children of bombay . Very insightful .

hmm. . i've seen salaam bombay. . actually a dodgy vcd of it, bought in on colaba causeway but produced IN a slum, is lying in front of me now.
it seems that you guys pretty much see the problem when you visit slums too. .
do you think they are successful in any way, GIVEN the failures of social and political order?
do you feel that there is anything to learn regarding design or spatial organisation from there?
here in london there are tons of discussions abut densities, modular living, the rise of self-build projects, the barriers between public and private space. . think the slums have anything to demonstrate in this sense?
what about the accepted belief that cities are alienating? the western models of cities suggest that contemporary city life is less community orientated and more geared towards the individual. . clearly not the sense one gets in mumbai and certainly not what appears in the slums. . can the slums in their extreme situation of density teach us anything about how social relationships might evolve, or do we say that the slums are an extension of the village mentalities and leave it at that?
as for the slum city relationship, what do you think the effect is on the texture of the city when you have to cross ribbons or fields of "slum environment" whatever that means to you/the viewer? how does it affect the experience of the city - would you be happy to lose this experience? do you think the inevitable confrontation with slum conditions contributes anything positive to the mumbaikar?
sorry if i'm sounding dogmatic or too impassioned. . i get the sense that this sort of discussion about slums isnt one that is considered often. . we tend to (logically and rightly perhaps) leap over the actuality and presence of the slums to discuss the causes and solutions, whereas i'd like to get slightly deeper in discussing their Existence and Practices. Even if one is to set about changing laws and rehabilitating, i am sure that an understanding of spatial use and slum practice can only lead to a more sensitive and thus more successful end (unlike, for example, the PMGP which is gentrified, or the mahim buildings for koli fishermen with the concrete boat shapes on top - immediately re-sold to middle class buyers)

not necessarily interested in make life "easier" for the slumdwellers, at least not immediately in the current discussion - in a sense what is amazon is their ability to make life convenient for themselves despite financial and social restrictions. . right now i'm interested in examining the creation that is the slum environment and the urban relationship towards it

once again tell me where to go with this if it is too disruptive to the thread. . and thanks for all your comments, its all good to me!! like food!
x
Please tell me if this is the wrong kind of discussion for this thread!

the one and only right solution:

provide low cost housing for poor. doesn't matter even if that takes some money. i believe the centre just gave approval for projects under some relief for urban poor program. they should've done that a long time ago in Mumbai and other major cities. they're just starting.

Bombay_boy is spot on. Get rid of the Bombay Rent Control Act and the Urban Land Ceiling Act and you will see the market providing solutions on its own. Slum dwellers don't get the land for free. The going rate in Dharavi for squatting rights on a small plot went into the lakhs several years ago. If the market provides them reasonable alternatives, people will themselves move to better housing.

Oh and the second initiative from the Government is to
a. Develop more distributed commercial areas rather than just South Mumbai. This is already happening but needs more public support.
b. Develop superlative public transport infrastructure and a network of highways to allow for fast transit between different parts of Mumbai. Not just in the North-South direction but in every direction.

If these initiatives are taken (and the most important being the repeal of the two laws), Mumbai will transform itself in 10 years into the vibrant city it has always been. Its great strength is its people and work culture (true for any city with a large number of migrants) and it does not need anybody else to transform itself into the New York City of the East. It just needs to be left alone, not throttled by politicians and the laws as is the current situation.

should i insist? the discussion above, while really incisive and practical, is still about policies and change. .
is it worth talking about qualitative or experience-based aspects of the city with/without her slums?
ps. is westernisation really the ultimate goal? how far do you think it is possible?
thanks again all!

You are a Mumbaiker right? I suggest that you meet up with Bombay Boy and all the other Mumbai-based SSC members once the flooding stops (you guys MUST wait for your own safety), and once you guys meet up, start a movement to make Mumbai an SAR like Hong Kong. In addition, publicize the movement in newspapers and stuff like that. If you attract a bunch of members, that will be great.

And remember, the movement MUST be peaceful-you can picket in front of the Maharashtra High Court with signs and stuff like that, but don't even THINK of carrying out violence. Remember, we gained independence in a nonviolent manner.


agreed mate....by the way, how can I help FixHyderabad.com? Its been around since January, but only has 6 users, including me, Pratik661.How do you make a link part of the signiature? I would be more than happy to publicize such a benevolent website.

The state of affairs as exposed by NDTV..

Mumbai slums in the grip of land mafia

Most of Mumbai's illegal slums are controlled by slumlords who use a powerful network of police and local officials to turn empty plots of land into slums. Their main targets are government lands lying free for years.

In fact, from time to time, slumlords break down their own slums so that they can resell the land at a higher price.

"The land mafia are local goons who have connections with the police, administration and local politicians. Nobody comes to an illegal slum expecting a free stay,'' said Simpreet Singh, member, National Alliance of People's Movement.

The Ambujwadi slum is a classic example. 23 acres of this slum is on land belonging to the Collector. The rest extends to the very sensitive Coastal Regulatory Zone.

The slums have eaten into the mangroves. The slumlords have covered the swamps with building debris so that the waves don't touch the plot.

But a year ago, the bulldozers came and much of Ambujwadi was demolished. Thousands lost their homes.

There was deep trauma in this Malad slum. One of the biggest demolitions in 2004 sparked off a bitter debate.

Mumbai's dilemma soon had a larger audience. Human rights activists and UN officials came visiting to hold public hearings.

To counter criticism that they were anti-poor, the municipal corporation also began targeting illegal structures of the rich.

But in Ambujwadi, like in other slums, the slum mafia sat back and waited. Once the bulldozers and the television crews had left, they slowly went back to business.

Bit by bit, they began selling the land once again. Today, a year later, pieces of land have been sold to the 10,000 people who now live here.

Obviously there is neither lease nor deed on paper. It's life on the razor's edge.

On one hand the bulldozers and on the other, the land mafia carrying out their own evictions as a way of reselling the land again and again.

''Now they want us to vacate this plot. For 40 years I have been a poor widow. With my income as a tailor I have brought up by kids. First we were ravaged by monsoons. Now they have broken down half my house,'' pleaded a local resident.

Her plot would now be resold to another buyer at a bigger amount. In fact, the occasional demolitions make it easier for slumlords to make a profit.

When the settlers return, they find their land has been sold to outsiders.

''The local police helped the slumlords bring in people from Dharavi to this slum. When we protested, the police registered complaints against us. The police are openly supporting the slumlords,'' said a resident.


Read on:

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Mumbai+slums+in+the+grip+of+land+mafia&id=86305&category=National

________________________________

Slum dwellers return to claim land

The slums in Mumbai that had been flattened a year ago along the banks of Mithi River had not been fenced off. It was the same river that had overflowed and trapped Mumbai underwater in the July floods. At that time the government had ordered demolitions of the encroachments that had choked the river.

In the last 15 months, the area on the banks of the river has seen demolitions every other month. For the 350-odd families in the area, it's been a living nightmare as they are caught between changing laws and waiting bulldozers. And now, a year later, the city's poor and desperate slum dwellers slowly find themselves creeping back to slumlords to buy back their old plots of land.

"Since our homes have been demolished so many times, we have stopped making concrete structures. We only use plastic sheets and bamboo sticks," said a slum dweller. It is the same story all over Mumbai. Over 2004-2005, at least 35 big slums were demolished, displacing nearly four lakh people.

But a year later, most slums are back, be it in Mithi, Ambujwadi or Mankhurd.

''I won't call this an eviction drive. It's a demolition drive that happens all the time. If they were serious about clearing reserved land, they would have done it once and for all sending strong signals," said A Jockim President, National Slum dwellers Association. "But only land that goes to builders or land sharks have been protected. On the rest people have come back as there is no clear rehabilitation policy,'' he added.

So far, only 16,000 families have been rehabilitated. That's roughly 20 per cent of the families who were displaced. The rest are back to face the bulldozers. "Nothing has been done for our rehabilitation. We have only been given hollow promises," said a local.

It is a promise that rings most hollow in the ears of Mohammad Islam, who's family was given a key to a rehabilitation home. "My relatives had been given a key to a rehabilitation flat. We have got the key, but still looking for the lock," said Mohammad Islam, Resident, Indira Nagar slums. In 2004, the state government had brought down close to 85,000 slums in its biggest ever demolition drive.

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Slum+dwellers+return+to+claim+land&id=86307

agreed mate....by the way, how can I help FixHyderabad.com? Its been around since January, but only has 6 users, including me, Pratik661.How do you make a link part of the signiature? I would be more than happy to publicize such a benevolent website.

Dude, Im glad you like FixHyderabad.com. Now, to help, you can tell yourfriends about it and all, then voila, there's the site's publicity.

As for adding links to sigs..

all ya gotta do is add the following code:

(url=http://www.urlgoeshere.com)Some text goes here(/url) but you gotta change the ( and ) to [ and ].

should i insist? the discussion above, while really incisive and practical, is still about policies and change. .
is it worth talking about qualitative or experience-based aspects of the city with/without her slums?
ps. is westernisation really the ultimate goal? how far do you think it is possible?
thanks again all!

I am not sure I understand how getting rid of slums is westernization. Is any progress in a developing country only to be viewed as moving towards the west? The ultimate goal is to build an India that will take on the west, IMHO.

So am i to understand there arent crime-infested ghettos in the western world? Probably filled with poor immigrants or minorities, high on state welfare and low on morale and I really hope we dont go that way.

like the western world, the slums here fulfil the demand for lower level jobs, but in addition, they are also little economies in themselves. I am sure you must have heard of the total yearly economic output of Dharavi being in the excess of $1 billion.

The only reason they exist is for the one reason we talked about: biig money for the politician. Thats why the ULCA and rent control act are still the way they are, and I think the people in the slums are too busy getting food on their table to actively do something about it.

well if rent control was repealed i think the most people who will be out in the streets will be middle-class indians. politicians fear that, when the middle-class can be woken up from their slumber to protect their cosy little world

double post. my bad.

thats the thing, Bombay Boy. what I am having trouble in is digesting the absolute ridiculousness of the entire situation!

I mean can it get any more obvious as to what is going on. Where else in the world can we find a city where rents havnt been raised in the past many decades. I mean its criminal that despite all the talk of modernity and infrastructure, we havnt found a government with balls enough to make a change. The people who have been paying pittances for the past many years, what justification can they provide to continue to do so when the acts finally amended?

I'd rather we let the MLA's and MP's keep raping their MPLAD funds than sit on these large tracts of lands and making crores in the process. Why can't the media build on such an obvious fact when they will discuss countless other drivel.

when supply equals demand, the market is in equilibrium. currently, since there is price ceiling, theoretically the market isn't in equilibrium. there is more demand than supply. also, why has this whole situation come into spot-light??? is it b/c there is a shortage in housing??? increasing the rents will only result in ppl moving outwards from the city.

price ceiling has been the reason why there are stil middle-class ppl living in amchi mumbai. if this goes, the already high prices will skyrocket even more.

i really don't think this is an easy problem to solve.....

also, how's the rent situation in suburbs of mumbai. the only thing i can think of is a horizontally expanding city where new townships are built in the borders of the city with lesser price. thus, such an ever expanding megapolis will prolly result in the world's largest conglomerated city in about 10 years. i'm not sure about the negative implications of that?

Getting rid of the rent control act will definately adversely affect some individuals (ppl who live on prime property but only pay 1950 rents and hence the landlords cant maintain the property, case & pt: Marine drive)

However, people who have the means to pay higher rent will move into these properties and the landlords will then be able to maintain them.

In the long run however the equation you talk of will stabalize because the folks who move into places like Marine drive will free up properties somewhere else.

Please don't forget the Middle class of Bombay are way more wealthy than any other middle class in the country. Bombay still has plenty of places for them to live albiet in the suburbs.


when supply equals demand, the market is in equilibrium. currently, since there is price ceiling, theoretically the market isn't in equilibrium. there is more demand than supply. also, why has this whole situation come into spot-light??? is it b/c there is a shortage in housing??? increasing the rents will only result in ppl moving outwards from the city.

price ceiling has been the reason why there are stil middle-class ppl living in amchi mumbai. if this goes, the already high prices will skyrocket even more.

i really don't think this is an easy problem to solve.....

also, how's the rent situation in suburbs of mumbai. the only thing i can think of is a horizontally expanding city where new townships are built in the borders of the city with lesser price. thus, such an ever expanding megapolis will prolly result in the world's largest conglomerated city in about 10 years. i'm not sure about the negative implications of that?

in the long run prices will fall if rent conrol is repealed. right now there is an artificial shortage created due to large numbers of properties locked up with existing tenants or not rented out due to fear of low revenue. do people seriously think prices in bombay should rival those in tokyo and london in a normal market? we should be much cheaper considering the price of living, the quality of living, etc. these are artificially high prices that will eventually settle down if the laws are changed

As far as the slum issue concerned, there is nothing romantic about slums. Slums need to give way to better housing for the low income groups. It's kind of become the in-thing to talk of slums in Mumbai (like the spread of Aids in India or the House of the Dying in Kolkata). Hopefully things will change for the better.

I do not believe that the Rent Control Act is such a big red flag as it is made out to be. There are many other issues involved.

I think 11 month leave licenses are very popular in Mumbai and I don't think these are governed by the Rent Control Act.

There are many other problems that make people afraid of letting out their premises. The first one is we do not trust our law and order system. We know our police are corrupt and can be bought over (even if only some are bad apples they put the blotch on the whole force). Our judicial system is so slow that no one wants to get involved. Then there is Mafia effect. Where dons living in foreign lands are just a telephone call away. Then there are the local political party goondas.

So if I let my apartment on rent, there is the fear that the tenant will not leave taking advantage of the above - bribe the police, pay money to local political party office, call up the goondas and the dons, or keep appealing to the next higher court and keep postponing date of hearing by feigning sickness.

The Rent Control Act may be scrapped, but things wont change much unless the law and order situation changes. India's progess has been hampered a lot because our law enforcement system has failed us. Either they do nothing or they are so brutal that it brings shame to the country in form of human rights violation. But like every other nation we are supposed to keep our mouths shut in fear of being called unpatriotic or being harrassed.

The new methods of going around the rent control act work for larger properties, not for the smaller ones. Rental stock is not such a big problem for the larger properties in any case, though the rent control act imposes huge additional costs. In the smaller sized property rental market, it has virtually eliminated supply. And that is where there is the greatest demand.

The issue of law and order is the same in every city of the country. Bombay does not have a significantly worse off law and order than many other cities. Yet the problems of supply constraints on the rental market are acute in Mumbai but not in other cities.

Law and order definitely needs improvement and will get us returns. But that applies across the board all across the country. The Bombay Rent Control Act, on the other hand, is a Bombay specific issue.

yeah the judicial system in india stinks. have been saying it for a long time, and have seen the effects on many people here of it. most judges can be bought off as easily as the cops, not to mention the the time it takes to decide a case. in property matters it can stretch to quite a few decades. thats why the 'parallel justice system' is becoming increasingly popular

most things in india are incentivised towards the illegal route. in the economic side this is decreasing rapidly, but there is a lot of work to be done on other areas

i dont think the rent control is dependent on property size, but on type of tenant. psus, banks and companies with a capital of over 1 crore are not protected by it. i know quite a few people who stay in flats covering thousands of square feet but pay a few rupees of rent a month. pathetic!

its a whole myriad of problems. sure there is no one silver bullet. but most importantly there has to be political will. and for that we need more public pressure. i can bet if there is a march of a million bombayites towards mantralaya you will see some action. politicians just see the general apathy around them and ask themselves why they should rock the boat

the last change to rent control was in 2001, i think the time has come for another change, or at least a repeal of ulca

just as an aside. sridhar, there is no more a Bombay Rent Control Act. that was repealed. now there is a Maharashtra Rent Control Act

Agreed. Though the new act retained most of the provisions of the old act except the introduction of the less than 12 month clause. The BRCA was not truly repealed - it was due to lapse in 2000 and hence the MRCA was enacted in 1999 to give legal continuity to the BRCA. There was an opportunity at that time to allow the act to lapse and only enact a new legislation to deal with the transition problems after its lapse (e.g. the tenants already covered by the act). But they blew it.

One more thing - the MRCA ncludes Bombay-specific clauses - it is, for all practical purposes, merely a BRCA with only a couple of changes.

I am the first to throw the stone against the politicians, and by no means are they not involved in bringing Mumbai to it's knees, that city is now bordering on being a failed city, with a very small window of opportunity. That being said, I have to transfer equal blame to the "EDUCATED" middle class of Mumbai, who are playing a very damaging role. They know that they are living on a gold mine that is not theirs, but take advantage of the archaic legal system to protect themselves, thus proving to one and all that they do not give a rats ass about Mumbai, but just about themselves. And when they do that, why should the slum dwellers be left out. They think it is their god given right, to be there as well, in Downtown Mumbai, paying rent to slum lords. Also, the middle class, who are pretty wealthy, might I add, are also providing the slum dwellers with job opportunities, which make them complete in their resolve. So I say forget about the politicians, they are lost causes anyways, the middle class families can take matters into their own hands. They can start by changing their attitude, start being fair and paying a decent rent and in turn demanding a good service from their landlords, clean and well maintained buildings and apartments and also stop demanding cheap labor from slums. The slums will disappear, if the people living there see that they are not making any money there, cuz at the end of the day, they have to pay rent to a slum lord too.

Thanks,

EOTB