Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
In a shocking development, the lengths and widths of hundreds of guts have been found incorrect in the rough draft development plan published by the state government's special Development Plan (DP) unit. On Friday, former corporator Sameer Rajurkar brought to light before the government-appointed committee the issue of reduced gut areas for numerous citizens. The development plans prepared in the year 1991 and 2001-02 were not considered while preparing the current rough draft. A base map was not used in the preparation of this plan alleged Rajurkar.
As reported earlier, the rough draft was published on March 6. Following this, suggestions and objections were invited in 60 days. About 8,500 citizens filed objections. To hear these objections, the government constituted a four-member committee of retired expert town planning officers. In the past few days, the committee has heard objections from up to 5,000 citizens. On the last day of the hearing on Friday, former corporator Sameer Rajurkar presented his points.
While speaking to the media persons after the hearing, he said that gut number 154 adjacent to gut number 158 in Mitmita should have a frontage width of 91 meters, but it is admeasuring only 88 meters. The biggest question is where the remaining area has gone? If the length and width of one gut are incorrect, it is natural for the entire map to be erroneous. The lengths and widths of gut numbers 156, 103, 304, 305, 220, and 210 in Mitmita are also incorrect, with discrepancies ranging from 5 meters to 27 meters across various guts.
Gut numbers having discrepancies?
Ravraspura: 2 and 20.
Padegaon: 44, 10, 59 and 16.
Bhavsingpura: 10, 29, 20, 18 and 19.
Harsul: 180, 50, 25, 52, 80, 82, 107, 192 and 193.
Itkheda: 15, 16, 44, 57, 46, 55, 39, 38 and 40.
Nakshatrawadi: 44, 45, 26, 27, 54, 55, 61 and 62.
What about Rs 12 crores?
To prepare scientifically accurate maps, the DP unit outsourced the work to a private agency. Rajurkar mentioned that the expenditure for this agency is approximately Rs 12 crore, of which the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) paid Rs 6 crore. These errors are the result of not considering the base map while preparing the rough draft development plan. The plans prepared in the year 1991 and 2001 were manual. Now, with the availability of advanced technology, how can maps still be incorrect? questioned Rajurkar.
Not certified by TLR
Before publishing the draft plan, why were the maps of all 11 sectors not certified by the tehsil-level office of the Department of Land Records? If they had been certified, the errors could have been corrected before publication. Due to these errors, the municipal corporation has not provided a single part plan of the rough draft in the last three months.
Errors will be corrected
Head of DP unit Shrikant Deshmukh said, “Rajurkar made well-studied suggestions, which will be corrected. That is the purpose of the hearing. City Survey and Land Records will also check it. The committee will make decisions after conducting a proper study.”
Missing gut numbers
Many guts demarcated in Garkheda, Shahnoorwadi, Mukundwadi, etc areas have not been numbered. How can one identify which gut belongs to whom? This is a major issue. There are 47 declared slums in the city, but their boundaries are not shown in the plan. Do the map makers even know the consequences of this?