Rs.14.71 crore fee waiver for land leased for Bal Thackeray memorial

The heat is gradually being turned up for the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha in Maharashtra. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is battling on two fronts: to keep his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in power and to keep his alliance partner, the Shiv Sena, in good spirits. The Sena has for long felt that it is getting a raw deal in the alliance. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has made public comments about breaking the more than 25- year-old alliance. Recognising the noises for what they are, Fadnavis has from time to time extended the hand of friendship to the Sena.  

The latest such act was on December 20 when the government announced the waiver of Rs.14.71 crore in stamp duty and registration fee. This amount was payable for the lease deed executed between the Mumbai municipality and the Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Public Trust. The Mumbai municipality is controlled by Uddhav Thackeray by virtue of the fact that the Sena holds the majority seats in the municipal corporation. The memorial is to be built in Shivaji Park, in the heart of what used to be the Sena’s stronghold. The proposed plot is owned by the municipality and a part of it currently has the Mayor’s residence on it.

Fadnavis’ move is seen as a wily one. By granting the fee waiver he has acknowledged his coalition partner’s strength in the municipality and soothed Uddhav’s ruffled feathers and also garnered the support of the Sena’s Marathi vote bank.

In another decision taken keeping the elections in mind, the Chief Minister gave the green signal to a proposal that allows the conversion of long-term residential and commercial leasehold properties administered by the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) in Navi Mumbai, Nashik and Aurangabad into freehold properties. The permission will be granted on payment of a one-time transfer fee. For residential properties this would be 5 to 20 per cent of the plot’s market value and for commercial properties it would be 25 to 30 per cent. The decision throws open the doors for redevelopment of these properties.  

The third pre-election sop, an unlikely one, is the approval for a new sanctuary in the Vidarbha region, where Fadnavis comes from. An in-principle approval has been given for the creation of a sanctuary at Kanargaon in Chandrapur district. The sanctuary is actually in existence but its status has been under threat.