BMC earned Rs 60 lakh through RTI requests thanks to faulty DP

The Asian Age: Mumbai: Friday, May 22, 2015.

Even though the state government scrapped the draft Development Plan 2034 of Mumbai last month, the BMC earned around Rs 60 lakh through RTI queries filed by Mumbaikars. Alarmed by the glaring errors in the draft DP prepared by the BMC, citizens had sought the development control rules (DCR) booklet, DP report, sheets and remarks to get clarity on how they would be affected by the plan, said RTI activist Anil Galgali.

Speaking about the revenue generated by the BMC due to the faulty DP, which was scrapped last month by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis after protests from various quarters, Mr Galgali said that he had filed an RTI query with the BMC on April 27 and sought details about the total number of applications it received and the charges paid by citizens seeking information about the newly prepared Mumbai Development Plan.

“In reply to my RTI query, the administrative officer of the DP department revealed that the various information sought by the citizens pertaining to the DP generated a revenue of Rs 59.48 lakh. A further break up of the amount revealed that Rs 39.05 lakh was earned by providing DP remarks to 2,220 applicants. Almost 4,130 citizens sought DP sheets, which earned Rs 13.01 lakh. The BMC sold about 312 DCR booklets, earning Rs 4.25 lakh and also earned Rs 3.16 lakh from 177 citizens who had applied for the DP report. In all, almost 6,839 citizens sought information,” said Mr Galgali.

On a query of the total number of suggestions and objections received by the BMC, Mr Galgali said that he was informed that till April 27, the BMC had received a total of 64,867 suggestions and objections.

Due to the major errors in the DP, Mr Fadnavis has instructed the BMC to correct its mistakes and come out with a new DP in four months. “It is important to note here that the BMC supplied information from the faulty DP to 6,839 applicants, which in itself may be faulty. Hence, in a letter addressed to the CM, CS and BMC commissioner, I have demanded that the charges be refunded to the applicants,” said Mr Galgali.