Hindustan Times: Mumbai: Friday, 01 September 2023.
On May 3, 2018, the UDD issued a six-point directive in which point 2 made it mandatory upon local governing bodies to publish information about illegal construction both via newspapers as well as on the government website
The City and Industrial Development corporation (CIDCO) has failed to abide by Urban Development Department (UDD) 2018 notification to make the list of illegal constructions and encroachments in its jurisdiction available in public domain on its website. CIDCO’s response to a RTI query about access to weblinks detailing the number of illegal constructions said it has no such provisions.
The RTI was filed by Navi Mumbai resident and social activist Mangesh Mhatre on July 31, 2023. CIDCO responded to the RTI on August 21 2023. “The UDD had directed every local planning authority to regularly update information about illegal constructions and encroachments on their respective websites so that prospective buyers are not fooled into investing in such properties. I noticed that some data is available on NMMC website, but there is nothing on CIDCO’s webportal. CIDCO has just affirmed this in response to my RTI,” said Mhatre.
On May 3, 2018, the UDD issued a six-point directive in which point 2 made it mandatory upon local governing bodies to publish information about illegal construction both via newspapers as well as on the government website. CIDCO’s response about not having published any such details on the website appears to contradict the directives “The UDD directives are meant to prevent common public from getting duped, but CIDCO does not seem to adhere to the guidelines,” he said.
Another activist Rajeev Mishra, who is also a petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the High Court (HC) on the illegal construction in the city, also echoes the sentiments. “There is certainly no transparency by any of the government bodies, be it CIDCO or Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) when it comes to providing information about illegal constructions. NMMC has not cared to update the list it has published in 2015. CIDCO is worse. In fact, it is yet to response to an RTI application seeking node wise data on illegal constructions I filed in July,” said Mishra.
According to Mishra, the reason for CIDCO not declaring the list in public domain has to do with the nature of encroachment that has occurred. “The MIDC has officially said an area of 127 hectare of land has been encroached upon in the comparatively smaller industrial belt of Trans Thane Creek (TTC). With its vast jurisdiction, CIDCO may have over 400 hectare of land under encroachment as per my rough estimate. Revealing this data would only depict the multi crore losses to the government treasury,” said Mishra.
When contacted, the controller of unauthorized construction (CUCC) Sanjay Jadhav said the corporation publishes the list every quarter. “The list is published once every three months in newspapers. With regard to publishing the information on the website as well, I will get it verified from the department,” he said.
On May 3, 2018, the UDD issued a six-point directive in which point 2 made it mandatory upon local governing bodies to publish information about illegal construction both via newspapers as well as on the government website
The City and Industrial Development corporation (CIDCO) has failed to abide by Urban Development Department (UDD) 2018 notification to make the list of illegal constructions and encroachments in its jurisdiction available in public domain on its website. CIDCO’s response to a RTI query about access to weblinks detailing the number of illegal constructions said it has no such provisions.
The RTI was filed by Navi Mumbai resident and social activist Mangesh Mhatre on July 31, 2023. CIDCO responded to the RTI on August 21 2023. “The UDD had directed every local planning authority to regularly update information about illegal constructions and encroachments on their respective websites so that prospective buyers are not fooled into investing in such properties. I noticed that some data is available on NMMC website, but there is nothing on CIDCO’s webportal. CIDCO has just affirmed this in response to my RTI,” said Mhatre.
On May 3, 2018, the UDD issued a six-point directive in which point 2 made it mandatory upon local governing bodies to publish information about illegal construction both via newspapers as well as on the government website. CIDCO’s response about not having published any such details on the website appears to contradict the directives “The UDD directives are meant to prevent common public from getting duped, but CIDCO does not seem to adhere to the guidelines,” he said.
Another activist Rajeev Mishra, who is also a petitioner in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the High Court (HC) on the illegal construction in the city, also echoes the sentiments. “There is certainly no transparency by any of the government bodies, be it CIDCO or Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) when it comes to providing information about illegal constructions. NMMC has not cared to update the list it has published in 2015. CIDCO is worse. In fact, it is yet to response to an RTI application seeking node wise data on illegal constructions I filed in July,” said Mishra.
According to Mishra, the reason for CIDCO not declaring the list in public domain has to do with the nature of encroachment that has occurred. “The MIDC has officially said an area of 127 hectare of land has been encroached upon in the comparatively smaller industrial belt of Trans Thane Creek (TTC). With its vast jurisdiction, CIDCO may have over 400 hectare of land under encroachment as per my rough estimate. Revealing this data would only depict the multi crore losses to the government treasury,” said Mishra.
When contacted, the controller of unauthorized construction (CUCC) Sanjay Jadhav said the corporation publishes the list every quarter. “The list is published once every three months in newspapers. With regard to publishing the information on the website as well, I will get it verified from the department,” he said.
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