‘More than 40% plots reserved for affordable housing misused’ Study Highlights Devpt Plan Discrepancies In Malad Madhavi Rajadhyaksha TNN Mumbai: A mere 58% of plots reserved for public housing are actually utilized for affordable homes. Over two out of five plots earmarked for schools lie barren or encroached upon. Five out of eight plots reserved for welfare centres are misused. This is the sorry picture of the Malad-Malwani stretch in the P (North) ward drawn up by voluntary organization YUVA, which set out to study the implementation of Mumbai’s development plan (DP). Using the civic ward as a microcosm, the architects tracked actual construction on the ground vis-à-vis the 1991 DP and found glaring gaps between policy and implementation. At a time when the civic body is drawing up its latest DP (slotted to be ready by 2014), the architects recommend that the revision process should recognize the natural assets and landscape of the city, and formulate guidelines for their

Study Highlights Devpt Plan Discrepancies In Malad Mumbai: A mere 58% of plots reserved for public housing are actually utilized for affordable homes. Over two out of five plots earmarked for schools lie barren or encroached upon. Five out of eight plots reserved for welfare centres are misused.      This is the sorry picture of the Malad-Malwani stretch in the P (North) ward drawn up by voluntary organization YUVA, which set out to study the implementation of Mumbai's development plan (DP). Using the civic ward as a microcosm, the architects tracked actual construction on the ground vis-à-vis the 1991 DP and found glaring gaps between policy and implementation.      At a time when the civic body is drawing up its latest DP (slotted to be ready by 2014), the architects recommend that the revision process should recognize the natural assets and landscape of the city, and formulate guidelines for their protection. "We have been recommending reducing the duration of the DP to five years (from 20 years) and developing a framework to monitor and modify the plan at regular intervals," said Aravind Unni, who has authored the report, Mumbai Development Plan - implementation and its biases. The report throws light on the extent of violations of the DP. For instance, the DP reserved around 37 acres for project-affected persons or what it categorizes as "housing for dishoused" in the Malad--Malwani stretch. But only 0.43 acres (or an abysmal 0.01%) of this has actually been developed. The lackadaisical implementation is reflected in other social sectors as well. In healthcare for instance, the report pertinently points out how hospitals and nursing homes are concentrated in south Mumbai, though the population has over the years moved towards the suburbs. It spells out that norms mandate one health centre for every 20,000 population. "Considering the population of P (North) ward (9,58,000), at least 48health posts are required. However, only four are maintained by the BMC and three let out under development control rules," the report stated. The lack of proper planning would have implications on progressive legislations like the Right To Education Act as well, pointed out the report, highlighting that only 63 of the 116 plots reserved for schools in the ward were developed, while 27 lay undeveloped and 26 were encroached upon.      Open spaces reserved on paper have also been swallowed in the guise of development. For instance, one in three plots reserved for recreation grounds in the Malad-Malwani belt are encroached upon, with prominent private clubs and malls standing on some. Only one out of the six reserved garden plots in the ward have been developed. "This analysis can become the first step towards claiming open spaces that the people of the city deserve," said Unni.      Earlier in the month, another analysis, Annual Survey of India's City-Systems, released by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship had ranked Mumbai at 2.6 on a scale of 10 for its urban planning and design aspects, placing it sixth among 11 cities.