The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will soon control nearly 25,920 acres of land designated for the proposed smart cities along the 701-km Mumbai–Nagpur super communication highway. The reason is to regulate development in the proposed cities. The agency has sent a proposal to the state to give it status of a special planning authority.
This means farmers will now have to seek approval from the MSRDC for land deals or any development plans on their own plots. Affected farmers are already protesting the highway, estimated to cost INR 46,000 crore, and the proposed land acquisition. “The proposal is under active consideration by the government. We have sought special planning authority status to ensure there is no haphazard development in these nodes, which will be developed as agro prosperity centres,’’ said Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director of MSRDC.
As a special planning authority, all land and town planning approvals within the specified areas will be under the MSRDC’s purview. The agency will delineate spaces for requisite highway amenities, residential, agro industrial, commercial areas within these nodes, which fall primarily in rural areas.
The proposal is being considered by the state’s urban development department and a notification under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act is likely soon, said sources in the government.(Source: www.hindustantimes.com)
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