Harsh Yadav, Lokmat News Network (Nagpur)
As the network of wider roads, Metro services and allied infrastructure increases, residential complexes too are increasing in the city. The Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), which is one of the planning authorities along with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), alone has witnessed a huge surge of applicants seeking building plan approval during the year 2023-24. Interestingly, the development authority granted approval to 88.29 per cent of applications it received during the period.
A Right to Information (RTI) query regarding building plan approvals granted by the NIT during 2023-24 shows that the authority cleared 1,425 building plans across the city. Top officials of NIT admit that this was a huge jump after the slow down experienced during the Corona pandemic period. Builders accumulated land banks and concluded negotiations during the pandemic and subsequently planned residential complexes on the acquired lands, said an official.
As against this, the NMC cleared 728 building plans of which 633 were new building plans and 95 regularisation cases.
Out of the 1614 applications it received, the NIT saw it fit to approve 1425 plans in its four zones. Out of these the North zone which has localities of Jhingabai Takli, Hazari Pahad, Gorewara among others, approved the highest number of plans at 443 while it rejected 44 plans. This area has seen a lot of developmental activity lately and has a robust civic infrastructure which the authorities obviously felt was adequate to handle the additional load.
West Zone which includes Manish Nagar, Somalwada and nearby areas saw 417 plans getting the stamp of approval while 64 were rejected. This zone was second granting approvals followed by the South zone which received 400 applications and cleared 368 of them. A total of 32 were found to have discrepancies and were rejected for various reasons. The South zone includes areas of Manewada, Dighori and beyond. Last on the list was the East zone which received 246 plans and granted approval to 197, rejecting the applications of 49 submissions. The areas under the East zone include Wathoda and other localities.
The jurisdiction of NIT and NMC are clearly demarcated and each have their respective town planning policy to develop the regions under their control. Both bodies accord sanction to building plans under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act (MRTP).
While Talking To Lokmat Times Joint Commissioner Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority Avinash Katade said it was "good to see that developers were eagerly participating in the initiative started by the state government for getting approvals under the official window". He said that the grant of approvals not only increased revenue of the state but also contributed to the "planned development and expansion" of the city.