Recently Vidarbha Taxpayers Association (VTA) got knowledge from the newspapers that Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is planning a 14 storied commercial complex at Sokta Bhawan land of Gandhibagh.
Taking this issue in public interest, a meeting of VTA Executive Body was held which was chaired by its president Shrawankumar Malu, wherein Malu shared with the members that, the existing Gandhibagh including Sokta Bhawan is admeasuring approximately 29,350 square meters, while the proposed 14 stories commercial building is planned at south-west of the Gandhibagh on land approximately admeasuring 6,350 square meters. And from the satellite picture of the Gandhibagh, the south west corner is the greenest area having quite a dense tree cover.
Today’s Rate
Saturday 28 Sept. 2024
Hemant Trivedi, vice president of VTA said, a garden by itself is a scarce commodity in Central Nagpur and this is the only garden available for the citizens which is extensively used by the morning walkers and Yoga enthusiasts; this fact can be verified any day in the early morning hours.
Tejinder Singh Renu, secretary of VTA submitted that past incomplete NMC projects in the city like Harihar Mandir Mall in Bagadganj area also creates fear of this project again going down in the similar way. As mostly, only the Ground Floor or max first floor attracts commercial showrooms, the upper floors remain vacant. This can be judged by the thousands of square feet of Metro floor area in their projects which are also available in the city centre, including many existing buildings on Central Avenue.
VTA is always in favour of development, however a project getting stalled like Badaganj Mall will harm not only the taxpayers but we will also lose precious green cover in Central Nagpur.
VTA is of the opinion that instead of reducing the green cover, we have an alternate site adjacent to Gandhibagh, the dilapidated police quarters. As we have recently added new residential police accommodations in Lakadganj and Panchpaoli area, the residents of Gandhibagh Police Quarters can be shifted to new buildings and this area be utilised for commercial building. A parking plaza can be constructed in place of Sokta Bhawan on a smaller portion of land.
Accordingly a letter will be sent by VTA to the Municipal Commissioner Dr. Abhijeet Chaudhari, IAS to prepare a realistic project report with proper market survey before launching any such commercial project on BoT Basis. Prominently present in the meeting were Immediate Past President J. P. Sharma, Vice President Hemant Trivedi, Treasurer Pawan K. Chopra, Joint Secretaries Amarjit Singh Chawla & Rajesh Kanoongo, Executive Body Members Saqib Parekh, Govind Patel, CA Sandeep Agrawal, Viru Balani, Hemant Sharma, Pratish Gujrathi, Shrikant Oke and Narendrapal Singh (Vicky) Osan.
