Change rules to curtail flats sale based on food habits, say corporators : Mirror

Sena, BJP members joined MNS demand to give civic rules more teeth, act against developers who discriminate over community, religion as well

In a bid to put an end to attempts by developers to sell apartments based on the buyer's food habits, community and faith, city corporators want the Development Control Rules (DCR) to be modified accordingly.

At the forefront of the demand is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), while the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who do not want to caught taking sides. In several pockets of Mumbai, the Sena is dependent on the Gujarati-Rajasthani voters as much as it is dependent on Marathi votes, while BJP does not want to alienate the Gujarati-Rajasthani vote bank.

The members of the Civic Improvements Committee on Thursday recommended that the BMC administration initiate the process to make appropriate amendments to the DCR, which will enable the civic body to initiate action against erring developers.

After a row in the western suburbs that highlighted the city's food divide, MNS group leader in the BMC, Sandeep Dehspande, wrote to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta asking him to initiate action against developers who discriminate over food habits and community.

Mehta said prevalent DC rules do not provide for taking action against developers who sell discriminate while selling flats. MNS corportaors Chetan Kadam and Santosh Dhuri along with Congress and Samajwadi Party members demanded the DC rules be amended so that BMC has powers to prosecute or take action against the erring developers.

Initially, Sena and BJP corporators seemed reluctant to ally themselves with the Opposition demand. In fact, at one point of time, Sena corportaor Shubha Rahul even walked out of the meeting, but was pacified and brought back to the meeting hall. Rahul is corporator from RNorth ward, which includes Dahisar, and has served as the city Mayor from 2007-09.

As the debate raged, Sena and BJP members too joined in. Sena corporator Shraddha Jadhav claimed that for several years, she has witnessed vegetarians and non-vegetarians residing in the same complex and having cordial relations.

“Flats were sold earlier as well, but one didn't witness such controversy. In the recent past, a section of developers have started creating disharmony in society over eating habits.There should be a provision in the BMC rules to initiate action against such people,“ Jadhav said.

In fact, BJP corporator and former Deuty Mayor Mohan Mithbaokar sought to play safe, claiming the Constitution does not allow for any discrimination based on community and faith. In a veiled attack on the MNS, he said, “Constitution is above the DCR, but a section of people are trying to gain political mileage from the issue by demanding amendments in the DC rules.“