Indu Mills to build a memorial for Dr B R Ambedkar

The state government of Maharashtra is planning to grant heritage TDR (transfer of development rights) to the Government of India, for permitting the use of Indu Mills to build a memorial for Dr B R Ambedkar. The Indu Mills is spread on an area of 12.5 acres in Dadar, which is owned by the NTC (National Textiles Corporation). Officials of UDD (Urban Development Department) stated, “The land will be included in the city’s heritage and after the TDR it will be a national heritage site. Indu Mills was excluded from the BMC’s proposed heritage list. Heritage list of 2012 is yet to be finalized as currently BMC is facing the opposition from stakeholders in that list

The National Textiles Corporation has demanded a compensation of Rs 3,600 crore for the land because according them they had been sanctioned a 5-star hotel on an adjoining plot, which was granted by CM Ashok Chavan, but later it was cancelled by Prithviraj Chavan. On Monday, the state urban development department issued a notification with its intentions to modify regulation 67 that deals with heritage TDR. It is expected that it will compensate the loss of development rights due to restrictions imposed when a building or land is included in the heritage list.

Heritage TDR can be used in certain wards, especially where it is generated and it has higher premium as very little of it is generated. But still NTC can sell it to other developers or use it for construction, According to price of 2012, it is estimated that the mill plot will cost around Rs. 4,000 crore. According to Architect Neera Adarkar, Indu Mills had been selected, but in later decision subsequent committee excluded it, Neera was part of a committee, which prepared the list of heritage sites for NTC. According to Regulation 67 of the development control regulations allows heritage TDR to land-owners whose structures have been declared heritage structures. As per reports, there is no clarity on whether the state or central government is entitled to TDR, so we are amending the regulation to include the state and central governments as beneficiaries. The provision of heritage TDR is a condition, which set by the Union government to move a bill in Parliament to get Indu Mills from NTC, said by the officials of Urban development department.

It is expected that the TDR will be handed over to NTC in the form of compensation and the United Progressive Alliance government is ready to hand over the land to the state government for the memorial. In July 2014, MMRDA was appointed the special planning authority for the conceptual plans on memorial, 13 firms had responded in which two were international firms known as; Jakob-MacFarlane (France) and UDP International (Hong Kong). MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) is working on the design of memorial.

Girni Kamgar, Sanghatana and Datta Iswalkar questioned the logic of granting TDR to the central government. The land belongs to the Centre Government and Ambedkar had contributed immensely to the country, but the construction will be restricted as the land plot comes under the coastal regulation zone.

Hurt Real estate sector

The decision of New CM, Devendra Fadnavis to review all major property development projects can hurt the real estate sector, as all the projects which was cleared in last four to six months of the previous government has put the sector in a fix. Big real estate projects are involving the huge cost and the sector itself will be in a state of suspense for four or six months now according to market experts.

What it is needed to review these projects?
The newly appointed BJP government is taking the cognizance of the charge leveled by the former irrigation minister Mr. Ajit Pawar because few projects of worth Rs12,000 crore were cleared in hurry during in last few months in the tenure of ex- Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. CM, Devendra Fadnavis wants to see if procedures were followed.

What does Prithviraj Chavan have to say?
Prithviraj Chavan told to DNA that new government has every right to review any kind of decision taken by his government. And the more he added “I have no problem if they will review the decisions taken be me. I haven’t done anything wrong in my tenure. If the cost of the projects increases by this move, then the incumbent government has to think over it”.

What is a cluster development project?
Any developer with minimum of 4,000 sq meters of land can represent the plan for cluster development, which will include all amenities. And after that government will allot the a Floor Space Index of four and it means means four times the land area can be build as towers or sky scrapers.

What did the previous government do?
The actual value of projects cleared is unknown and a slew of major cluster development projects, which are for Mumbai, were cleared during the last few months. Ajit Pawar was hinting the corruption blame when he made the allegation against his own Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Why are real estate developers upset?
All the real estate developers who have raised debt to continue the projects already cleared this review will means the huge loss interns of money and as well as reputation. Kailash Agarwal, Chairman of Avighna Developers, doing a cluster project in South Mumbai stated that “Cluster development policy will be affected by this review decisions. The review will result in three to four months escalate the cost many fold. There are only couples of cluster developments projects in Mumbai which have been successfully executed since the inceptions of the scheme in 2009. The more he added that all the developers now again have to pay the bribe for same project and its nothing else then chance to collect the black money.
President of National Real Estate Development Council, Sunil Mantri, said “ The new Chief Minister can review the previous government decisions because they have all rights to do this but it should be done “speedily and with good intention”.

Are you planning to buy a new flat near Metro line, Monorail line or any other major infrastructure project in Mumbai? If yes, then be ready to cough up an additional 10 % additional development tax on property transactions in such areas.

The residential and commercial properties could get costlier as the state government is contemplating a 10% development tax on property transactions in such areas. The logic is that properties in these areas will command a premium once the projects come up.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to send a proposal to the state planning commission on how this tax should be levied. The move comes after the MMRDA complained that its resources were getting depleted and there were no new avenues of revenue generation.

The MMRDA plans an initial one-time 10% development tax on the ready-reckoner value. This tax will have to be paid while registering the property in new developments or existing structures. While 7% of the tax is likely to go to the MMRDA, the remaining 3% will go to the civic body. A final decision on the move will be taken by Chavan, said the sources.

However, the move has evoked a strong reaction from home buyers. Prakash Ojha, who is looking to buy property near Pratiksha Nagar Sion from where Mono rail passes, said, “ In fact, no Development tax should be levied at all as all such services are already chargeable. Already salary classed employees are paying more than their portion as taxes which are deducted at source, hence such a move is despicable, he added.

“It will be very cruel, unfair and inhuman if development tax is levied in addition to the other duties and taxes like stamp duty, registration, vat and service tax”, said Suresh Mirajdar, an executive working with an MNC in Goregaon. Instead of imposing this tax on new home buyers, it should be spread over the entire population in the form of increase in the monthly maintenance tax payable by all the flat owners.

Agrees Monal Patil: the benefits of the development like monorail, metro line , mumbai trans harbour link is for all and not only for the new home buyers. If it is a burden then it should be passed on to all and not the new entrant only. Old residential flat owners already have the advantage of having bought the property at lower rates and majority of the existing home owners need not necessarily be the actual users and can also be investors. The government should look at it from the point of view of the new property owners, she said.

Here comes a shot in the arm of housing sector with none other than Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan stating that the state government will ensure that middle income group people are able to afford their own houses.
Speaking after unfurling the tricolour at the Mantralaya here to mark the 68th Independence Day, the Chief Minister said, “It is very difficult for the common man to own a house in Mumbai or at other big cities in Maharashtra. For this, we have decided to work towards a goal of ensuring affordable houses. And it will be ensured that it happens at the earliest,” he said.
Since shelter is one of the fundamental needs of man, the government will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that every head has a roof over it, he said.
The Chief Minister said that the government will make Maharashtra an “online” state in the next five years, which will reduce corruption and help citizens avail government facilities.
“We want to make Maharashtra an online state that will help citizens avail all the services of the government sitting at home. This will make government procedures transparent and efficient at the same time. We will ensure that the scheme reaches across to even the smallest of villages,” he said.
“By launching the Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana, the government has tried to ensure that the needy get the best treatment free of cost. From the time it was initiated, around 5.62 lakh people have benefited from it and the government has spent Rs 712 crores on this scheme,” he added.