The Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) had been denying lease deed renewals for industrial plots with existing apartment buildings, insisting on a user change from industrial to residential. This imposed a massive financial burden of lakhs and crores of rupees on the apartment owners. Seeking relief, some owners approached the Vidarbha Taxpayers Association (VTA).
The VTA delegation, led by President Shravan Kumar Malu, initially met with NIT Chairman Sanjay Meena, but he declined to consider their memorandum. Undeterred, the VTA team met with MLA Pravin Datke, who grasped the issue’s gravity and prepared an appeal letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
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Monday 10 Feb. 2025
With MLA Datke’s support, VTA’s Tejinder Singh Renu and Hemant Trivedi met CM Devendra Fadnavis, discussing the issue and submitting the appeal letter. The letter highlighted that Clause N-2.8(c) of the then Development Control Regulations 2000 (DCR) permitted mixed-use development on industrial plots, with 25% workshop and 75% residential usage, and an FSI of 2.0; whereby many industrial plots were developed under this clause from 2000 to 2018.
Although the Urban Development Department’s 2018 government resolution required user change procedures and fees for new constructions, VTA argued that this law couldn’t be applied retrospectively, which added a huge burden on the common man. CM Fadnavis agreed, directing NIT to renew the lease deeds without demanding user changes, unless such plots were redeveloped in the future.
The VTA expressed heartfelt gratitude to CM Devendra Fadnavis and MLA Pravin Datke for resolving this long-standing issue in the public interest, as this will bring much relief to many apartment owners of the city.
