The Brave Pedestrian

October 20, 2009:  Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and Maharashtra Government has given in to pressures from builders, and made far-reaching changes in existing laws through the back-door. Bypassing the state legislature, they issued GRs (circulars) that negate existing laws and Development Control Regulations (DC Rules). These changes are endangering lakhs of people in high-rise buildings, and in fact, entire neighbourhoods which are a combustible mix of high-rise buildings, slums, illegal encroachments, CNG filling stations, stores, unauthorized godowns and factories, etc. How was this legal scam carried out?  Read the below scans from a book on Mumbai’s REVISED Development Control Rules 1991 (2003-04 edition). I have marked key points in these scans with a red dot.  Also, many lines are underlined by  Mumbai's Chief Fire Officer (CFO) P D Karguppikar,  who gave these to me during an RTI Inspection. DETAILS OF THE SABOTAGE: A.   ...

Not every crime is committed with narcotics, guns, violence etc. A huge number of crimes are committed with STEEL & CONCRETE in every city and every state of India. These crimes, routinely committed by the construction industry, go undetected. These crimes are generally invisible to all, except a small number of trained people within the system. The illegalities committed by the construction industry are NOT VICTIMLESS CRIMES. They swallow up precious land and assets belongin g to the public at large. But these crimes are deliberately ignored and downplayed by the system, because our politicians, judges, lawyers etc. are deeply involved. Land & building projects are the favourite investment avenue for powerful people who are earning lakhs of rupees everyday. Architects are the masterminds engaged at the planning and execution stage of every building. They know the illegalities like the back of their hand. They know precisely which rule, which law, which development reg...