Mumbai demands submitted to PM

Corporate Mumbai took the occasion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Mumbai on Wednesday to submit a memorandum seeking a directive to the RBI to seriously pursue plans to turn Mumbai city into a regional financial centre while asking the Union government for Rs 2,000 crore over the next 18 months for kickstarting some critical infrastructure projects in the city.

The memorandum was handed over by the Citizens' Action Group which emphasised, "In the past, we had prepared a detailed proposal indicating the roadmap for making Mumbai a regional financial centre. Our repeated requests to the RBI to afford us an opportunity to explain our suggestions have proved to be futile. We strongly urge the honorable PM to principally agree to upgrade Mumbai into a regional financial centre and direct the RBI to look into the proposal immediately."

In a bid to free available land held by the Mumbai Port Trust in the city, which is currently tied up in leased contracts, the memorandum has also sought "to redevelop the excess land with MPT in a planned manner. MPT has already submitted a proposal to the Union government for allowing the conversion of leased lands to freehold lands. The Government of India needs to approve this proposal at the earliest," the memorandum says.

Citing the need for Rs 2 lakh crore to transform Mumbai into a 21st century metropolis, as pegged in the Vision Mumbai plan, the memorandum sought an immediate 'viability gap funding mechanism' of Rs 2,000 crore over the next 18 months to kickstart some of the critical infrastructure projects in the city.

In addition, a metro rail project on the lines of New Delhi, has also been sought from the Union government along with Rs 500 crore for redeveloping over 19,000 dilapidated cessed buildings in the city.

Seeking a fast track clearance for all the issues in the memorandum, the appointment of Union minister of state Prithviraj Chavan as a coordinator with the PMO for expediting official clearances pending with the Union government was also sought.