Metropolitan planning committee for Mumbai soon
Rakshit Sonawane

Mumbai, September 25: The State government has decided to constitute
Metropolitan Planning Committees (MPCs) for the Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur
metropolitan regions for integrated development and enhanced coordination
among the various government agencies involved in development work.
The MPCs would have members drawn from the local self-governing bodies in
the region. The one for Mumbai, for instance, would include representatives
from the municipal corporations of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and six other
corporations of Thane district. The Zilla Parishad, Thane, the MMRDA, CIDCO
and similar bodies would also have representation. The members would be
elected by the local bodies to the MPC.

Said a senior official: ''In Mumbai, both the BMC as well as the MMRDA are
involved in infrastructural development. The MMRDA has been entrusted with
the task of the development of the Mumbai region, including Thane, Navi
Mumbai and parts of Raigad district. But once the MPC for Mumbai is formed,
the MMRDA would be a part of the MPC and would assist it (the MPC) in
developmental planning.''

For the MPC in Pune region, members would be drawn from the Pune as well as
the Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, while the MPC for Nagpur would
have members from the municipal corporation, Zilla Parishad and similar
agencies involved in the development of the region.

''A notification would be issued within a fortnight and the whole process
would be complete within two months,'' a senior official in Mantralaya said
adding ''The idea is to have a monitoring panel for an integrated
development of the region and to improve coordination among all agencies
involved in the local development.''

He pointed out that unlike the District Planning Committees, which are
headed by the respective guardian ministers, the MPCs would be headed by the
chief minister.

All local self-governing bodies in the region-like municipal corporations,
municipal councils, zilla parishads-would elect members to the MPC from
among their elected members. For instance, the corporators of the municipal
corporation of Mumbai would elect their representatives to the MPCs.
The MPCs would tentatively comprise of 50 members and exact number of
representatives from various local bodies would be decided as per their
strength and their role in the regional development. The MPCs would also
include some private members who are experts in some field.

The formation of the MPCs would also provide more voice to local bodies in
planning the development of the region. Currently, the planning is done by
the district planning committees headed by the district guardian ministers
and most of its members are political nominees of the ruling party of the
State.

Moreover, since the MMRDA is controlled by the State government (read
Congress, as chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is its chief) and the BMC is
controlled by the Shiv Sena-BJP, both the entities are at loggerheads over
several issues, like the funds due to the BMC from the State.
The Sena had recently launched a campaign against the MMRDA for ''taking
credit'' for the infrastructural works in the city. The Sena had pasted 'BMC
' stickers on MMRDA signboards to claim political credit for the works.

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