A much-awaited measure to alleviate the severe paucity of land in the country?s financial capital Mumbai, is close to realisation. Over 5,378 acres of salt pan land in the city?s suburbs owned by the Centre will soon be unlocked to develop low-cost housing projects for rehabilitating slum dwellers to be displaced by the various infrastructure upgrade projects, including the expansion of the Mumbai international airport.
A group of ministers (GoM) examining the salt pan land issue, chaired by the agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, met in the capital on Thursday and is close to completing its mandate. Emerging from the meeting that was attended by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath told the Financial Express that the GoM has decided to unlock the salt pan land.
?We have asked the state government to come up with proposals within one month on ways to unlock the land. The department of commerce (which owns the land) will work with the state government in evolving the proposals. The committee has decided that the land has to be unlocked, the key is to work out the way to go about it,? Nath said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called for the expeditious transfer of the salt pan lands to the state government back in September 2006, while reviewing the major projects by the Centre to ameliorate the lot of Mumbaikars who were severely affected by the floods in 2005 and 2006.
It was decided that efforts of various central and state agencies be coordinated and urgent measures evolved for using these lands for rehabilitation of slum dwellers, and facilitating the vacation of land of public projects presently under occupation by slum dwellers.
The GoM meeting on Thursday was attended by Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, road transport and shipping minister T R Baalu, communication minister A Raja, Science and technology minister Kapil Sibal, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy and top officials from their ministries.