19,000 hectares, 78 villages wait for development by MMRDA

With an area close to 19,000 hectares in 78 villages in Kalyan and Bhiwandi under its control, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is sitting on a potential goldmine. 

However, the authority’s plans to develop the area, for which it has prepared a development plan which has been opposed in its present state by some of the members calling it “developer oriented” rather than “development oriented”.

MMRDA has been given the powers of a Special Planning Authority (SPA) for the overall development of these 78 villages. While the consultants preparing the plan had already submitted the basic structure in August last year, it has no clear demarcation regarding open spaces and other key elements such as financial resource generation for infrastructure development.

In the authority meeting held on Wednesday, members came up with a number of queries regarding the issues. While MLA Nawab Malik demanded that the authority needs to generate revenue from the DP so as to facilitate the infrastructure development of the region, BJP corporator Ashish Shelar demanded that a separate study group be created to study the reduction in existing open spaces after the DP is given a go ahead.