Surat:

With an attempt to woo the minority community in the city, the town planning committee of BJP-ruled Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to lift the condition of reservation imposed on 2.90 lakh square metres of land located at Unn.

The decision made an hour before the state assembly election dates were announced on Wednesday has come as a surprise for the residents of 50 societies, including those of Osama Nagar. The decision will benefit at least 35,000 people mostly belonging to the minority community.

TP committee chairman Kanti Bhanderi, a BJP councillor, said, “The decision has been taken on the grounds of humanity. There is no question of any vote bank politics here. These societies were built on this land in the last one decade.”

About 30 per cent of total area of any plan is reserved for civic amenities and other community facilities. With the lifting of reservation from Unn land, the existing constructions can remain there. SMC had received over 3000 applications of objections against reservation in its TP scheme no 59 on 336 hectares of land.

Reservation had been proposed on 5.86 lakh square metres for civic amenities. Reservation still remain relevant but for only the remaining 2.98 lakh square metres of land at Unn, an area under Udhna, the newly constituted assembly constituency.

City unit Congress president Ashok Jirawala said, “If BJP thinks that by such gimmicks it can woo the voters belonging to the minority community, then it is wrong.”

Bhanderi said, “It is part of our uniform policy to remove reservations from all those TP schemes where people are already living. We have done so in Bamroli, Vadod, Puna, Simada, Amroli and Chaprabhatha.”

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Surat / by Himansshu Bhat, TNN / October 04th, 2012