The draft Development Plan of Mumbai prepared by the BMC has completely neglected the health infrastructure, say activists and experts.
The draft Development Plan of Mumbai prepared by the BMC has completely neglected the health infrastructure, say activists and experts.
The master plan has allocated 4 square feet per person for health amenities as against 13.77 prescribed by the Centre. "It is understandable that not every person in the city falls ill at the same time, but hypothetically if that were the case, not more than 4 square feet would be available for each person in terms of access to health care services," said Leni Chaudhari, member Jan Swasthya Abhiyaan (JSA), Mumbai.
Chaudhari said that creating space for health facilities is the primary task of BMC. "However the spaces have been earmarked as 'health facility' in the DP without mentioning whether it is for private developers or the BMC."
Demanding clear demarcation of space to be developed by the BMC, Chaudhari said, "This space should not be given away to private player at a cheap rate as they can afford to buy spaces at market rates."
According to JSA, while the BMC has used the National Building Code of India (NBCI) recommendations for commercial establishments, it has apparently not done so for health care infrastructure (see box).
Also, the distribution of these facilities is very skewed, said Chaudhari. "All the big hospitals like KEM, Nair, Sion and JJ inch towards South Mumbai. The eastern suburbs have no tertiary hospital and the western suburbs have only two. Harbour lines areas have none."
The activist said the allocation of funds towards health infrastructure in BMC's budget depicts a disturbing trend. The allocation for was about 35% in the 60s which has come down to only 9.3% (Rs2,907 crore) of the corporation of overall budget of Rs 31,172 crore.
JSA has demanded extension of the deadline for accepting objections and suggestions for the blueprint, which is April 24, 2015, by two months.
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