Mumbai: BMC scheme of procuring residential tenements from open market and its contracts for construction of 13,971 tenements for project affected persons (PAPs) in the city have been challenged in a public interest litigation (PIL) before the Bombay High Court.
During the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the BMC in 2019 planned to build tenements for PAPs. Accordingly a list was prepared which indicated that approximately 35,000 tenements would be required.
The plea contends that the corporation has several plots for PAP rehabilitation throughout the city. However, more than 210,000 PAP tenements were being put up. In March last year, the BMC issued letters of acceptance for four PAP camps at Mulund East, Chandivali, Prabhadevi and Bhandup. These contain 7,439, 4,000, 529 and 1,903 tenements each. Further, the BMC has floated tenders to purchase these tenements from the builders at market rate.
Further Details In The Plea
The plea highlights that the BMC will purchase these tenements from the builders, who have already been offered transferable development rights (TDR) [permission to build and sell property elsewhere in lieu of the surrendered area to the BMC]. Also, they are permitted to use floor space index (FSI) of 5.4. This means that the total built-up area of buildings can be 5.4 times the plot size.
In addition, the builders are granted exemption from payment of government premium for the additional FSI. As per the existing contracts, the corporation will pay TDR and credit notes worth Rs8,302 crore to contractors and the builders will reap profits to the tune of Rs6,330 crore, the plea alleges.
