MMRDA will be taken beyond Mumbai: CM.

The State government could in the future clip the wings of Mumbai Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the apex body for planning and coordination of development activities in the MMR region.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, while presenting a Government Resolution in the Council on Thursday proposing extension of the authority’s scope, made a number of suggestions on the likely changes in its functioning. He said in the last four years, his government has ensured much of the funding from the body — which was being spent only in Mumbai under the previous regimes — is spread out to regions beyond MMR. The powers of the MMRDA must be passed on to the corporations, which are publicly mandated authority, and will be given priority by the State, the CM said.

In response to a question raised by Nationalist Congress Party’s Kiran Pawaskar, Mr. Fadnavis said the government is seriously considering handing over the development of Back Bay Reclamation, including the office district of Nariman Point, to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The current planning authority for Back Bay is MMRDA. This would be done along the lines of the earlier move to transfer development of the Bandra Reclamation, previously managed by MMRDA, to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). “We are considering this suggestion (transfer of some powers). The necessary changes to the laws will be made. My government firmly believes the MMRDA will have to be taken beyond the current nine corporations in the MMR region. The MMRDA is not a bank, which will just collect funds and sit on it. This (fund) must now be used in the areas back and beyond of Mumbai and Thane,” he said while presenting a resolution to extend the existing limits of the MMRDA to include extended parts of Palghar, Thane, Kalyan and Khalapur in it. This is being done to facilitate infrastructure works by the authority — including construction of the Metro and Monorail — in the region, the CM said.

The Chief Minister said the issue of equitable distribution of authority between BMC and MMRDA, especially over handling of potholes in the aftermath of monsoon would also soon be resolved. The BMC is an elected body and must maintain more powers between the two, he said. “My Government believes the BMC being an elected corporation must be given a better say in development works. We will make provisions to ensure legislators are, like the corporators in the BMC, allowed to sit in the meeting of the MMRDA,” he said.

THE HINDU