CIDCO removed as planning authority for Konkan districts

State govt puts CIDCO's special planning authority for Konkan region on hold due to potential hardships. Officials revert to district collectors for permissions.

Barely eight days after it made the City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) the special planning authority for Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Palghar districts of the Konkan region, the state government has put the decision on hold. In a two-page order issued on March 12, the urban development department stated that it was being stayed, as people could face hardships and processes would not be as smooth as necessary if CIDCO was in charge.

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The order was issued by Nirmal Chaudhari, deputy secretary of the urban development department, and stated that permissions for various developments would be issued by district collectors as was the case earlier.

Minister Aditi Tatkare, who hails from Roha, said that the move would have caused great inconvenience to people, who would have to go all the way to the CIDCO office in Navi Mumbai for clearances. “The old system of getting clearances is much better,” she said. Nitesh Rane, BJP MLA from Kankavli, added: “We needed a rethink because people were against it.”

The urban development department issued the notification appointing CIDCO as the special planning authority for coastal districts like Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Palghar areas on March 4. Former BMC commissioner and 1977 batch IAS officer Subodh Kumar was appointed to head the high-level advisory board and create a plan for self-sustainable development and employment in Konkan.

CIDCO was asked by the UD department to set up offices in each district to approve plans. At present, any construction is approved by the municipal corporation, council or gram panchayat, depending on the area. The corporation was asked to carry out proper planning and also ensure environmental protection and conservation as well as non-conventional energy generation. It was also told to plan eco-friendly tourism, adventure tourism, conservation of sea forts and tourism-based infrastructure as well as all-inclusive development.

The advisory board was to prepare a vision document for the notified area in the first six months in consultation with all the stakeholders, including CIDCO, conduct field visits and study relevant cases of national and international development plans with similar features. CIDCO was to propose all the necessary provisions in the development plan, based on various guidelines mentioned in the vision document and was asked to select a reputed agency of international standard with the consent of the high-level advisory board of experts.