Big setback for BMC chief
The DP fracas may have spoiled Sitaram Kunte’s prospects of a significant posting at Mantralaya.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's decision to scrap the city’s Development Plan is a big set back for Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte, a 1985 batch IAS officer who oversaw the drafting of the plan from Day 1.
With a committee led by Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya blaming the BMC, political parties are now clamouring for Kunte's resignation.
A Delhi School of Economics graduate, Kunte, 53, has handled several cityrelated assignments, including one as MHADA chief. “Kunte monitored the whole plan," said a bureaucrat. "Despite protests, he did not take the issue seriously and adopted a casual approach."
Kunte has been fighting fire since the DP was published -- from defending the flexible FSI scheme to backing the bid to convert the Aarey Colony at Goregaon into a business hub -- even as political parties, activists and citizen groups slammed the DP for bizarre errors and anomalies. “The Commissioner is responsible for this mess," said Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party Group Leader in the BMC. "He should resign on moral grounds.”
In defence
BMC officers defended the plan and blamed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar for forcing the chief minister's hand. A BMC deputy commissioner told Mirror Thackeray called for the plan to be set on fire without knowing the details. The source said senior BMC officials went to Uddhav Thackeray and Shelar to impress upon them that there weren't as many errors as it was made out to be.
Sources said Kunte and his team even met the committee led by Kshatriya, Urban Development Secretary Nitin Kareer and State Town Planning Director A Akode. "For everything that came in newspaper, we had a proper response and a factual position. We presented all of it to the committee," Kunte told Mirror.
Officials told the committee to not solely go by the media hype. "There was clearly a lack of understanding of issues," said one of them. "Urban planning is a serious technical subject. Many don’t understand the nuances and made allegations."
A touchy issue was heritage. Kunte told the state that the process of drawing up a list of heritage structures was independent of the DP. A committee under former chief secretary Dinesh Afzulpurkar was hearing suggestions and objections to the proposed heritage list. Including heritage structures in the DP would have resulted in two sets of objections.
Another allegation was builders had benefited. A specific charge was that in Goregaon, a huge chunk of nodevelopment zone land was dereserved to benefit Sahara. Kunte told the committee this was done at the behest of the state and MMRDA as the land was needed for the Metro car shed.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's decision to scrap the city’s Development Plan is a big set back for Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte, a 1985 batch IAS officer who oversaw the drafting of the plan from Day 1.
With a committee led by Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya blaming the BMC, political parties are now clamouring for Kunte's resignation.
Government sources said the fiasco may have even spoiled Kunte's chances of getting a significant posting at the Mantralaya. Kunte said the DP had even received good reviews from the World Bank. "We will wait for the directions from the government," he told Mirror.
A Delhi School of Economics graduate, Kunte, 53, has handled several cityrelated assignments, including one as MHADA chief. “Kunte monitored the whole plan," said a bureaucrat. "Despite protests, he did not take the issue seriously and adopted a casual approach."
Kunte has been fighting fire since the DP was published -- from defending the flexible FSI scheme to backing the bid to convert the Aarey Colony at Goregaon into a business hub -- even as political parties, activists and citizen groups slammed the DP for bizarre errors and anomalies. “The Commissioner is responsible for this mess," said Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party Group Leader in the BMC. "He should resign on moral grounds.”
In defence
BMC officers defended the plan and blamed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar for forcing the chief minister's hand. A BMC deputy commissioner told Mirror Thackeray called for the plan to be set on fire without knowing the details. The source said senior BMC officials went to Uddhav Thackeray and Shelar to impress upon them that there weren't as many errors as it was made out to be.
Sources said Kunte and his team even met the committee led by Kshatriya, Urban Development Secretary Nitin Kareer and State Town Planning Director A Akode. "For everything that came in newspaper, we had a proper response and a factual position. We presented all of it to the committee," Kunte told Mirror.
Officials told the committee to not solely go by the media hype. "There was clearly a lack of understanding of issues," said one of them. "Urban planning is a serious technical subject. Many don’t understand the nuances and made allegations."
A touchy issue was heritage. Kunte told the state that the process of drawing up a list of heritage structures was independent of the DP. A committee under former chief secretary Dinesh Afzulpurkar was hearing suggestions and objections to the proposed heritage list. Including heritage structures in the DP would have resulted in two sets of objections.
Another allegation was builders had benefited. A specific charge was that in Goregaon, a huge chunk of nodevelopment zone land was dereserved to benefit Sahara. Kunte told the committee this was done at the behest of the state and MMRDA as the land was needed for the Metro car shed.
