Bombay: With BMC surveys probably approaching, former BJP corporator Bhalchandra Shirsat wrote to the BMC commissioner demanding cancellation of a proposal to establish a Urdu Language Study Center In Byculla. Construction work on this center is underway.
“There are 12 municipal Urdu schools in Ward E, Byculla and other schools with Urdu departments. Considering the decline in the number of students, it is possible for the BMC to allocate vacant classrooms to the Urdu Language Study Center I, on behalf of the local residents, request the BMC to cancel the proposal for an Urdu Language Study Center on the said land and approve the establishment of a center. of studies in their own right. Industrial Training Institute” Shirsat said in his letter.
Shirsat provided information about the land, said it was leased in 2011 to the Lower Parel Industrial Training Institute (ITI), but remained unused due to zoning reservations for the “shelter for the Homeless” under the Mumbai Development Control Regulations of 1991. Efforts to gain approval for the institute were disrupted by the pandemic, leading to the cancellation of the lease and a new proposal for the Urdu center. Shirsat alleged the proposal bypassed municipal approval and legal procedures.
“If a lease granted by the municipal corporation is to be cancelled, a show cause notice is first issued to the lease holder, followed by a written explanation and a hearing. Only after the approval of the improvement committee and the municipal corporation can legal action be taken. In this case, no such proposal was prepared and no intimation was given to the ITI Director. Subsequently, a proposal for construction of an Urdu language study center was made with the approval of the Deputy Commissioner of Ward E. However, this proposal does not have the approval of the Municipal Corporation,” a Shirsat said.
When contacted, BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said, “The project is already suspended. So we will look into all aspects and then arrive at a solution.”