Ambani plans township in Ulwe,Dronagiri

Mukesh Ambani

Next four months will see the launch of the biggest residential township with state of the art facilities by Reliance. The state govt has recently altered its Industrial policy by allowing land which was acquired for building SEZ\’s (special economic zones) to be used for building residential buildings.40% of the land acquired for SEZ\’s can be used for residential buildings. Ambani owns 4300 acres in Ulwe and Dronagiri. This is prime residential land right next to the sea. Besides residential buildings, malls and schools too will be started. They plan to develop a walk-to-work culture. With the proposed Ulwe-Sewri link getting the funds the distance between Ulwe and Sewri will be reduced to a mere 10 mins drive via an expressway. This along with the Metro link and airport in the vicinity will make Ulwe the most preferred destination. What is sure to raise questions is the fact that this land was acquired for cheap by the govt in the garb of making SEZ\’s and then allotted cheap to Reliance. Many allege that it was never Reliance\’s intention to make SEZ\’s and that they have altered the Industrial policy of the govt by using money power. This extra 4300 acres in Ulwe is sure to cause a tremor in the Navi Mumbai real estate market. How exactly Reliance decides to price the houses here is the million dollar question as the local developers wait with baited breath.

Important Update.8 aug 2013

Ambani all set to use NaMu SEZ land for Special Education Zone. To have 400-acre campus in collaboration with Cambridge, Oxford & Harvard universities

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani has decided to develop the campus on a plot measuring over 400 acres at Ulwe, according to sources at Reliance Industries. The education hub will have a tie-up with world-renowned universities like Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard.

Ambani and his close aide, Anand Jain, jointly own this land which had been acquired for a special economic zone. This plan has now been completely scrapped. According to the state’s revised industrial policy, the land has been ‘unlocked’. This means it can now be put to any other use.

“The state government recently revised its industrial policy. As per this policy, we are working on our blueprint, which is likely to be released soon,” the source added.

Now, Mukesh Ambani’s wife, Nita, is closely monitoring the development of the education hub, said sources.

Nita, who has a keen interest in the domain of education, wants this proposed education hub to be a prominent centre among world universities, said the source who spoke strictly on the condition that newspaper not name him.

This proposal, said the source, lends strong credence to what Ambani had stated during the annual general meeting in 2011. Ambani had then expressed his desire to set up a “world-class, multi-disciplinary university” in Maharashtra.

The source, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said that the education hub will offer comprehensive, all-round education – from kindergarten to research. “The education will be innovative and students will have wide scope to conduct research on anything that interests them. The campus will have state-of-the-art facilities,” said the source, adding that confabulations are on with foreign universities.

This proposed education hub, said another source, will help nurture talent. “Presently, existing universities are not able to meet industry demand by providing required engineering talent. Once our centre comes up, the problem will be sorted out. We can provide a pool of talent to our industry and other companies,” said the other source.

It is understood that the education hub will be autonomous. “We will bring western and eastern culture and talent together. We will offer courses in science, arts and professional streams,” said the other source who works in a senior capacity at Reliance.

Earlier, Ambani had decided to construct a skyscraper on this plot but this plan was scrapped. “This land comes under the ‘flying zone’ of the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Aviation rules restrict the height of buildings in the zone… So, we had to call off the plan and decided to develop the international education hub,” said the source.

A spokesperson of Reliance Industries Limited told dna that plans are still in the nascent stage. “We are still working out the modalities and understanding the nitty-gritty of the revised government policy. However, so far nothing has been fixed yet. The plan could be revised at any moment,” said the spokesperson.

Related articles

• Anil Ambani\’s Reliance group, China\’s Wanda to form township joint venture (alllatestnews.wordpress.com)
• Govt approves de-notification of 40% of RIL\’s Gujarat SEZ (thehindu.com)
• Sue me, not TV news channels, Kejriwal writes to Mukesh Ambani (thehindu.com)

High court turns complaint against builders into PIL

A letter written by activist Vikrant Karnik (5 page letter) based on a television sting operation against malpractices of builders/developers has been turned into a PIL (public interest litigation) by the Mumbai High Court. The letter cites \’normal\’ builder practices of charging on the basis of :Super built up area instead of Carpet area which can sometimes be twice the carpet area. He also cites the normal practice of charging for the car parking area (a practice banned by the supreme court),charging for the society formation (it is the builders responsibility to form the society and convey the land in favor of the society. He cannot charge for it),charging cash for 30% of the cost of the flat etc. These practices are as old as the trade itself. Even though MCHI president Paras Gundecha may deny it, the whole world knows that it takes place. What the govt has done up till now about the whole thing is a mystery.

CIDCO land official murdered

Atul Mhatre

The body of Atul Mhatre, aged 35 years, was found in a village near Panvel on Sunday. Mhatre was murdered with a knife or sharp weapon. Mhatre was employed in the rehabilitation and property dept of CIDCO\’s belapur office. He was last seen at Belapur on Friday evening while returning home to Uran. His car was later found abandoned on Uran-Panvel road.
It may help to know that Mhatre was employed with CIDCO for the past 15 years and was recently transferred to the property dept where he was assigned to rehabilitate villagers in Kamothe under the 12.5% gaothan scheme. His body had 42 injuries from a sharp weapon and he was tortured before his killing. Atul used to work as a clerk in the land section of CIDCO.
According to his family, Atul was recently involved in the selling of a plot of land owned by his distant relative to a builder in Navi Mumbai. The price of the land was initially fixed at 25 lakhs but Atul had asked the builder to pay over Rs.1 crore based on the current market rate of the land.
Update:
Four people including a real estate agent by the name of Prem patil have been arrested for th e murder of Atul Mhatre. Patil said that he had paid Atul 3 lakh rupees to allot a plot of land to his client under the 12.5% Gaothan scheme.
(Readers should know that 12.5% gaothan scheme is a scheme whereby the original inhabitants of Navi Mumbai are allotted land in return for the  farmland they surrendered to the govt. Recent past has seen a lot of scams wherein CIDCO officials in collusion with villagers, conspire with the help of fake documents to get land allotted in their name.)
When Atul Mhatre asked for 20 lakhs, Patil plotted the murder of Mhatre along with his friends-Nitin Bhoir (23), Andy Cruz (27) and Kunal Salunke (25).Patil allegedly paid Cruz 1 lakh rupees as a supari.
This along with previous incidents of corruption in the lands section of CIDCO shows that officials working in the dept are more of agents and less of govt employees. Some of them are rumored to have earned 100\’s of crores by mediating in land deals between builders and gaonwalas. One only has to visit the CIDCO office in Belapur to see the rampant goondagiri of agents and officials in the office. How many more cases like this the govt needs to wake up is anybody\’s guess.

Accused caught by the Police

Largest land owners of Mumbai

Throughout human history, land has always been synonymous with power. Mongol empire, considered the greatest empire in human history, covered an area of 24,000,000 km² (16% of earth’s total land area) at its greatest extent. Ones with bigger territories are the biggest kings.

If you’ve ever wondered who the kings of Mumbai are, read on !

Colonial Era kings

The roots of our story date back to the British Era where land was gifted as a reward for ‘loyalty’ to attract people. Parsis, who were mainly the traders and middlemen at that time, had acquired large profits from this generosity and through canny investments in real estate market they accumulated large amounts of assets which were passed on through generations till today. Presently Mumbai is the most populous city in India and the fourth most populous in the World with an average density of 20,694/km². For Mumbaikars, the quest for a roof on top of their heads is never ending. But there are a few fortunate families with considerably large chunks of this golden cake in their pockets acquired hereditarily. Research shows that most of these gold-plated chunks are not quite yielding under the pressure of land mafias and encroachment. Though some trusts have gained profits from owned lands, many families have lost their valuable land under the Coastal Regulation Zone.

Privately owned land in Mumbai

Of 99,319 acres of Mumbai almost 7000 acres are owned by Mumbai’s top 10 private families/trusts, as estimated by Economic Times. Collectively, 21 largest private bodies of Mumbai own about 10% of the total city.

• Godrej Industries Pvt. Ltd. is the largest private single landholder in Mumbai today with holdings of nearly 2,000 acres of mangroves at Vikhroli on the east of the Eastern Express Highway. It established itself in real estate as Godrej Properties Ltd. in 1990 and has undertaken many constructions in more than 12 cities in India. In Mumbai, they have taken up many successful projects including Godrej Platinum at Vikhroli East close to their mangroves. However, Godrej is fighting to claim the title of the land in court since mid-70’s. Even if Godrej wins the case, a considerable part of it, which is along the Thane creek, falls under the CRZ and cannot be developed upon.Godrej Industries Pvt. Ltd. – Largest private single landholder in Mumbai
• Next is FE Dinshaw estate. Framroze Edulji Dinshaw was the son of a Karachi landowner and most prominent businessmen of his times. He took over his father’s assets in Mumbai and expanded for his next generations. By 2002, FE Dinshaw estate was the largest privately owned land in Mumbai with 2,200 acres of western suburbs between Malad and Borivali. The FE Dinshaw Charities trust, founded after he died in 1936, holds another 278 acres mainly in Malad. However, a lot of its land has fallen prey to encroachment and land mafias.
• Another classic example of British generosity is the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Properties Limited, which is the 5th largest landholder in Mumbai. Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, a 19th century philanthropist, was gifted by East India Company a total of 12,000 acres of land between Bandra and Borivali in 1830. Over the past 40 years huge tracts of his land are sold off to builders or gave up to the government for infrastructure development.
• Others include A.H.Wadia trust and builders like the Ajmeras, the Hiranandanis and the Rahejas.

JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust)

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust is the unanimous topper of the public land holding lists with 2,000 acres. All the land and water area between Colaba and Navi Mumbai, which is nearly one-eighth of Mumbai, falls under JNPT. Keeping in view the acute shortage of land, the port trust has developed efficient land use schemes and have encouraged development of city’s infrastructure on a large scale. It has given up half of the land to MMRDA for development of Wadala Truck Terminus, aimed at decongesting South Bombay, and Mahul Link Road. It has also approved to development of MTHL with concessional rents on another 25% of its area. It also agreed to consider the elevation of Eastern Island Highway through its estate. JNPT now wishes to reclaim land between Colaba and Navi Mumbai to improve the infrastructure projects which is receiving serious oppositions from political parties and environmentalists.

Even after the disintegration of mill culture in Mumbai, NTC mill still has 1,377 acres of land in Central Mumbai after selling most of its property to private builders. The central and state institutions of Life Insurance Corporation of India, Income Tax offices and banks hold most of slum areas of Dharavi. CBI has 5,000 sq metres at Bandra-Kurla complex.

Unused Spaces in Mumbai

Most of the above stated lands are unused vacant spaces for various reasons. While some may fall under CRZ others are reserved by the government for open spaces and recreational activities. Around 135 acres of salt pan lands are spread in and around Mumbai under Ministry of Urban Development of India. If approved, these salt pans could be used by state government and private sectors for more infrastructure development. According to senior officials of Railways, the central and western railways have huge unused lands around CST and Bandra which could fetch up to 30 acres of land for development. Collectively, over 66% of vacant lands are still present in the city under the State and Private sectors.

Kharghar residents hit again by Grampanchayat property tax demand

The property tax issue in Kharghar remains unresolved even today. Recently, some societies received a property tax demand from the Kharghar gram panchayat to the tune of a few lakhs. Some societies received bills for as much as Rs.90 lakhs!

Kharghar has long been plagued by a triple property tax problem. Currently, Kharghar residents are paying taxes to 3 different entities. Cidco, Tehsildar and gram panchayat.
Residents are paying service tax to Cidco, property tax to the gram panchayat and NA (Non Agriculture) tax to the revenue department in this case to the Panvel tehsildar.
Until recently there was no Police station in Kharghar and there were issues with the electric supply in some sectors. Although a police station has been sanctioned there, it is still in the construction stages with the contractor stopping work due to cost escalation.

Since Kharghar is a \’developing node\’, it does not have a municipal corporation. All tasks of the Municipal Corporation are carried out by CIDCO. Most of the services are outsourced by CIDCO eg.Garbage collection. As a result, Kharghar faces a litany of woes.

The residents of Kharghar have formed a federation of housing societies to fight this issue. The federation met the Raigad collector recently and plans to meet the Urban development minister soon. The High court has redirected the matter to the Zilla Parishad.
Recently, corporator Santosh Shetty also faced the brunt of the Gram Panchayat when the Panchayat turned up at Hotel Three star (Kharghar)which is owned by Shetty. Fortunately for him, they were unable to carry out the sealing due to \’lack of police protection\’ which is a flimsy excuse in reality. It was stage managed to make it seem like the Gram Panchayat was taking action against the big fish also.