Navi Mumbai airport decision today

The State Board for Wildlife (Maharashtra) will decide the fate of the Navi Mumbai airport today, 24 Jan 2013.As stated in an earlier article, the airport land falls within 10 kms of the protected Karnala Bird sanctuary.

In early March 2012,Debi Goenka, of the Environment Action Trust, filed a complaint with the Chief conservator of Forests (Thane region) and he complained about it to Union environment secretary Tishya Chatterjee, asking the ministry to revoke the green clearance.

Goenka alleged that CIDCO officials had hidden the fact that:-

1. The Land earmarked for the airport contained 321 acres of reserved forest area.(Reserved forest land cannot be destroyed to develop the land in any way).
2. The Airport boundary wall is less than 10 kilometers from the Karnala bird sanctuary.(According to the Environment protection act,an airport cannot come up less than 10 kilometers from a wildlife sanctuary).

This was verified personally by Debi Goenka along with CIDCO officials. Later,the Chief conservator of forests conducted his own survey and found the allegations true. The distance was found to be less than 10 kms and the land revenue records showed that 321 acres were indeed Reserved forest Land.
Subsequently, the Chief conservator of forests, Mr.Pol, withdrew the permission saying “We have conveyed our objections to the principal secretary and the Navi Mumbai authority (CIDCO) will have to seek fresh permission from both the state wildlife advisory board and the central wildlife advisory board,” said Pol.

False Claims by CIDCO
Cidco claims that only 70 hectares of land falls under the eco sensitive zone (10 kms radius of Karnala bird sanctuary) and that Supreme court in its 2000 order had directed all state govts to mark eco sensitive zones coming under its jurisdiction and that State board of Wildlife had not yet earmarked the eco sensitive zone around Karnala bird sanctuary. However, interestingly, CIDCO officials cleverly avoid mentioning that the airport contains 321 acres of Reserved Forest area. Reserved forest areas cannot be developed under any circumstances. CIDCO had deliberately hidden this fact during the planning stages and later on.
The state board of wildlife will submit a report to the National board for Wildlife which will take a call on whether to give CIDCO the clearance or not.
The decision will be eagerly awaited.
Apart from these major hurdles, the proposed airport is also facing a land acquisition problem. It requires 2,042 hectares of land from which 1,405 hectares is already with CIDCO, but 485 hectares of land is privately-owned.
These private parties are demanding much larger compensation packages, thereby forcing infrastructure companies, including Larsen & Toubro, to question the viability of the entire project. Environmentalists are also putting pressure on the MoEF highlighting the ecological havoc the project will cause since it involves the diversion of two rivers, the Gadhi and Ulwe and the decimating of 400 acres of mangrove forests.
In the light of these ‘new’ developments, the actual construction work is unlikely to start before 2014,provided the green signal comes from the Ministry of Environment and forests as early as possible.
The tendering process is yet to begin and once the winning bidder bags the project, it will take another six to eight months for the feasibility studies. CIDCO, which was to commence the levelling and filling of the land before construction, now has to wait for these clearances from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF)
In light of these developments, it is anybody’s guess when or if the airport will ever come up here.
In the meanwhile, investors and flat purchasers wait with baited breath for the final decision of the ministry.

More information…..

http://business-standard.com/india/news/navi-mumbai-airport-bombay-hc-rejects-cidcos-plea-for-fca-exemption/499610/

Thane district does not have an anti encroachment demolition squad

While all civic bodies like BMC and NMMC have their own strong anti encroachment set up to evict encroachers and demolish illegal buildings, the Thane collectors office lacks one. This is thanks to the State Govt. In such a situation almost all the land in the district including the local self govt jurisdictions has been encroached upon. The Collector has several hundred acres of land in areas of Navi Mumbai like Turbhe etc. Hence it is for all to see the state of affairs in Turbhe, which is the den of all sorts of illegal activity in Navi Mumbai. Other than huge slums, one can find all sorts of illegal activities like liquor making, prostitution etc in Turbhe. Personnel of the PWD perform the anti encroachment activities in the district. Some of them do not even know how to carry out demolition. Sometimes its the Nayab Tehsildars who handle the demolition work in absence of Tehsildars leading to little or no demolition. Thane district has 15 talukas,7 municipal corporations and 11 municipal councils.

Homi Patrawala of Snowgold charged for forgery and cheating

Owner of Snowgold constructions faced a setback as the high court dismissed his plea to quash the FIR against him in a forgery and cheating case. Patrawala can approach the supreme court and has stayed the the order for 8 weeks.
Patrawala approached court after another builder,Ashok Mohnanai of Ekta builders,filed an FIR against him for cheating and forgery.
As per Ekta builders,Patrawala took money as brokerage for a deal between Mohnanai and 70 year old Sushila Jadhav,who owns a bungalow on 13th Road,Khar West.Mohnanai also purchased an adjacent plot owned by Patrawala.Mohnanai claims that the money he gave for Sushila Jadhav never reached her and that Patrawala diverted the entire amount to his companies.He also donated money to trusts of politicians.
Patrawala had approached Mohnani with the offer of the bungalow in June 2010.By March 2011,he had completed all formalities and paid all the money through cheques and a cheque of Rs 6 crore for Jadhav.When Jadhav did not vacate the plot even after making all payments,Mohnani visited Jadhav only to find out that Patrawala had not forwarded the money to jadhav and had instead usurped all the money himself.Patrawala had also made a slum dweller from kanjur marg open an account in the name of Sushila Jadhav into which he deposited the cheque issued by Mohnani for Sushila Jadhav.
Mohnani then approached the economic offences wing.

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.