| Repealing of ULC is one of the pre-conditions to get the central finances under the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) for infrastructure projects in Mumbai and other cities of the state. |
| The state wants to invest around Rs 40,000 crore in various infrastructure projects in Mumbai and it has sought assistance of around Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre for the project. |
| Ever since Act came into force in 1976, the Maharashtra government's record in implementing the Act has been dismal, only 182.5 acres of excess land was acquired by the state government and utilised for constructing housing for low and middle income groups. |
| Nearly 1,000 acres of excess land was exempted from the purview of the Act under the various clauses of the Act. But nearly 15,000 acres of land still remain with private landlords who have managed to hold on their land by using every tactic in the statute book. |
| The Act created severe shortage of land stock in the city and prices of real estate went through the roof and defeated the purpose for which the Act had been introduced. |
| Besides, it created an unholy nexus of builders, underworld, police and scruples politicians, pointed a senior bureaucrat from the state government. |
| A senior minister from the state government said, "though the chief minister had announced that the Act would be introduced in the winter session, a group of MLAs of Congress from Mumbai was not in favor of repealing the Act on the verge of municipal elections. Besides this although BJP was in favor of repealing the Act, its alliance partner Shiv Sena was staunchly opposed to repealing the Act and it would have use the move to repeal the Act to its advantage". |
| Besides, on Wednesday the state election commission announced the elections in Mumbai and nine other municipal corporations in the state with this announcement, model code of conduct also came into force which also tied the government's hand, he pointed out. |
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