Deshmukh defends DCR amendment

Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today tried to defend the amendment in the Development Control Rule (DCR) 58 in the name of "poor" mill workers in a press conference.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing after the cabinet meeting, Deshmukh claimed that the original DCR 58 proposed to divide land on 1/3-1/3 basis, but there were no takers to this formula. This affected workers as they were not getting compensation and some were even forced to commit suicide.

Besides, there were two instances where mill owners while keeping the super structure of the mill intact made some development on the mill plot. In this way, while the workers were not getting compensation, at the same time mill owners were able to take advantage of the mill land.

The amendment to DCR 58 and explanation thereafter has ensured that workers got compensation worth Rs 600 crore, he added.

But he was at a loss of words that if the amendment to DCR 58 was such a big help to workers, then why the state government is not challenging its rejection in the recent Bombay High Court decision in the apex court.

He said that the government is still going through the judgment and the state will abide by the court's decision, despite the feeling that amendment to DCR 58 was justified.

He also said, "The court has left the question of validity of the amendment open. It has only struck down the explanation given by the state government to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and under these circumstances, we are studying what exactly the court judgment means and how it could be implemented."

He claimed, "Ever since DCR 58 came into existence in 1991, proposals for only three mills were received till 2001 with the total area handed over to BMC and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) measuring around 38,749.96 sq mt and 24.286.71 sq mt, respectively. However, after the 2001 amendment, the state government received many proposals for redevelopment of mill lands and nearly 982,268.01 sq mt and 92,321.12 sq mt could be handed over to BMC and Mhada, respectively."