save 6000 cr...

shailesh gandhi
B2 Gokul Apartment, Near Asha Parekh Hospital,Poddar Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai-400054.
Tel: 32903776 Email: shaileshgan@vsnl.com

Public could lose 1000 Crores on CRAWFORD MARKET ‘REDEVELOPMENT!

And a Total of over 6000 crores over all the MUNICIPAL MARKETS

People can stop this loot if they take the issue to heart. Every Mumbaikar including the poorest loses about 5000 rupees in this. Citizens who would like to join this effort and understand how they can contribute in saving our money are invited to a meeting to understand and discuss this:
Date: Saturday, 21st July, 2007
Time: 6.00pm to 8.00pm
Venue: Khar Nimkar Library, C.D. Marg, Between S.V. Road and Madhu Park, Khar (W).
About 10 minutes walk from Khar Station. 2 mins from S.V. Road's Khar Stn. bus stop.

You can save 5000 rupees belonging to you and all the Mumbaikars with a little time.

If the poorest Citizen who has some land on which there are tenants, and wants to develop it, what does he do? He approaches some builders and figures out who will offer the highest sum to him. This simple principle is not occurring to the MCGM. When I was in primary school, we used to be given arithmetic sums, which said there are 50 mangoes which must be divided amongst 3 people in a proportion such that A gets 40%, B gets 30% and C gets 20%. How many mangoes will each get? In the later years in school, the idea that there could be a cost associated was introduced and all of us would also calculate the cost of such a division. However-unbelievable, as it might appear- the MCGM proposes to act as if their officers never studied beyond the primary school and is about to gift over 1000 crores of the Citizens property in Crawford market- and a few thousand crores across all Municipal Markets!

I read about the development and privatization of the Crawford Market in the papers, and decided to investigate this transaction. The information given under Right To Information from the Market department of MCGM in the beginning of 2006 made horrifying reading. I obtained copies of the proposal using RTI. Trying to read the bureaucratic language and the reams of complex nonsense spewed forth is enough to confuse any Citizen.

The primary reason for this grand policy and proposal is that the MCGM claims it is very concerned about its duty to provide Markets to Citizens. It laments that since it does not have resources- in fact it designs every policy to ensure impoverishment of the Public,- it seeks to give all the benefits to the tenants and developers. Under this policy, the tenants negotiate with the developers, and MCGM gives extra FSI- which will ultimately lead to greater demands on the infrastructure. In return, MCGM takes some constructed space- calculated as a percentage.

Using Right To Information I have obtained a complex web of bureaucratese which refers to a number of interlinked resolutions which will actually fulfil the objective of impoverishing the City. I am giving below, the financial implications of the proposal. All the figures have been taken from the proposal obtained from the Market Department of MCGM. I have made only two assumptions:

1. The cost of construction would be Rs. 16000 per sq. mtr. (which would be about Rs 1495 per sq. ft.)

2. The price per sq. mtr. of the commercial premises would be Rs. 350000 per sq. mtr. (which would be about Rs. 32710 per sq. ft.)

When I calculate the financial implications of this, it means the Public,- the owner of the land,- gets free construction cost of just about Rs. 42 crores and allows the tenants and developer to gain over Rs. 1000 crores!

What can be done? :
1. There are enough private developers of Markets, and the MCGM should desist from developing Markets. In this case, I do not believe anybody has analysed the impact on the traffic and amenities when 6205 sq.mtrs. becomes 65689 sq. mtrs! We are creating a nightmare, apart from changing the Heritage skyline. If this view is accepted a smaller structure could be built where a better market could come up.

2. If there are strong reasons for this development, which I am not able to comprehend and the infrastructure solutions exist, MCGM could give a contract for about Rs. 105 crores and stand to gain over 1000 crores. Alternately, tenders could be floated to completely handle everything in which case too, MCGM would get over 900 crores.

This same model is presently proposed to be adopted over all the 100 Municipal markets and will mean that some people would gain over 6000 crores at Public expense...

Last October the Corporation faced with these facts, stopped the proposal. Once the elections were over, the proposal has again been mooted. It was proposed to be passed last Thursday on 12 th July by the Corporation. Some of us approached the leaders of various political parties in the Corporation and outside. The result was that the proposal has been stalled presently. I met the Municipal Commissioner who also agreed that this work should be done by the process of inviting tenders so that the Public gets its rightful share. However, the proposal could again be revived and passed if we are not vigilant.

We have a plan which could be executed if some Citizens participated. The idea is that we will explain all the calculations and the way the scheme is likely to hurt our interests at a meeting. We are hoping Citizens will,- subsequently in the next ten days,- meet Corporators, legislators, MPs and other political leaders in the City, and discuss the proposal and how it is against Public interests. These meetings would be fixed indepently or in small groups. They will make notes of the reactions and comments from the political leaders they meet. We will collate the reactions of the political leaders and put them in Public domain. If we can succeed in this, we might find a way to enforce accountability from our political representatives. I expect the total effort will not take more than about 10 to 20 hours of your time. Rs.6000 crores is worth that effort.

Do spread the word an invite friends to join.