‘Govt thinking of ways to regularise illegal structures’

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan noted that the government was thinking of ways to tackle the problem of illegal constructions in urban parts of the state, especially Mumbai and Pune.

A committee headed by the Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat is looking at measures to regulate such construction. It is expected to submit its report by March and bring amendments to related laws.

"The government has to decide on the extent of regularisation for these structures and those that cannot be regularised at all. Then, amendments to four or five related laws will be brought in," said Chavan.

Questions were raised about the fate of illegal constructions in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where over a lakh unauthorised structures exist.

Meanwhile, legislators from Mumbai asked the government to rein in arbritary growth and development of the city and speed up key infrastructure projects. This was during a discussion on allocation of Rs 5,371 crore to government departments including urban, revenue, forest and rural development.

"There are fears regarding CRZ norms, heritage rules, and other green norms coming in the way of Mumbai's development," said MNS MLA from Mahim Nitin Sardesai.

Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar, Congress Kalidas Kolambkar and MNS Shishir Shinde insisted that government set up a committee to facilitate coordination between civic agencies.

Action against Pune engineer

MOS Bhaskar Jadhav said action has been taken against a Pune engineer for failing to curb illegal construction under the new law, which fixes responsibility on officials for structures that come up in their jurisdiction.

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