Leaders demand stay on PMC proposal to widen 335 roads

PUNE: The state urban development department is probing the municipal corporation’s controversial nine-metre road-widening proposal based on complaints filed by three Pune leaders with the ministry and the chief minister’s office, questioning the use of Section 210 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act to initiate the move.

The issue has taken another twist with these leaders arguing that a greater Floor Space Index (FSI) was currently available for the redevelopment of old societies along the six-metre streets, much more than pre-2016, when the utilisation of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) was allowed on these narrow streets. This was due to the provisions of “ancillary FSI of 60%” and the proposed “additional FSI of 30%” (for redevelopment of old societies) under the new Unified Development Control and Promotional Regulation (UDCPR), they said.

Shiv Sena’s joint coordinator for Pune Prashant Badhe and two former leaders of Opposition in the

Pune Municipal Corporation

(PMC) — Ujjwal Keskar and Suhas Kulkarni — had on February 17 written a letter to the urban development ministry arguing that the PMC’s move to widen 2,000 six-metre roads (335 in the first phase) using the Section 210 of Maharashtra Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act was illegal. A similar letter was issued to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray by Badhe and the same was forwarded by the CMO (chief minister’s office) to the urban development department on February 17.

State urban development secretary Bhushan Gagrani confirmed that he had received the complaint. He said he had a discussion with the leaders on the issues raised by them.

In their complaint, the leaders argued that the PMC should have carried out the widening under Section 37 of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP) as the change proposed was a “major modification” in the Development Plan of Pune.

“If the same proposal was initiated under the MRTP Act, then it would have led to a greater discussion. It would have needed the PMC general body’s sanction as well as the state government’s nod,” Badhe said, adding that he had urged the urban development department to stay the PMC’s proposal.

The leaders agreed that the ban on the utilisation of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for six-metre roads, which came into effect in 2016, had affected the redevelopment of old housing societies till the last year, but now the situation had changed after the UDCPR came into force.

“Prior to 2016, the total FSI, including the TDR, made available for redevelopment was 1.6. Now, under the UDCPR, the FSI for redevelopment of old societies works out to 1.76,” Keskar said, adding that it could further increase to 2.06 as the urban development department on December 2, 2020, had proposed allowing additional 30% construction for redevelopment of old societies.

When pointed out that besides the TDR, before 2016, the old housing society also got FSI-free balconies, terraces and staircases, a senior state officer said, “The maximum FSI in such free cases works out to 0.4. But what we are offering currently is still more than what the old societies on six-metre-wide roads use to get with the TDR utilisation.”

The state officials clarified that this did not mean that the state was against the widening of six-metre streets to nine metres, as proposed by it in the UDCPR for all municipal corporations across Maharashtra.

“The six-metre roads must be widened to nine metres. We are firm about that. But, widen the thoroughfares listed in the DP, not internal layout roads in colonies. Also, cul-de-sacs can get exclusion, propose the same. A widening process via MRTP was hence a better choice,” the officer said.