The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has commenced the distribution of transferable development rights (TDR) certificates to original landowners whose private properties have been encroached upon by slum dwellers.
This initiative, launched under the leadership of CM Devendra Fadnavis, seeks to address a long-standing impasse between landowners and encroachers. For many years, private plots in Nagpur have been occupied by slum clusters, preventing landowners from developing their properties while residents lacked legal rights due to insufficient documentation.
The state government’s scheme aims to tackle both issuesālandowners will receive TDR certificates as compensation, which can be sold in the market for financial gain, while slum residents will be regularized and granted lease rights.
On Tuesday, municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari presented TDR certificates to 19 plot holders from mouza Babulkheda during a brief ceremony. Deputy commissioner Milind Meshram, town planner Rituraj Jadhav, and CDSF head Leena Buddhe were in attendance. With this action, NMC has become the first municipal body in Maharashtra to compensate official landowners of private land in this manner. The Babulkheda site comprises 43 private plots and an 8-acre parcel owned by Indraprastha Society, all of which are situated within the Ramteke Nagar slum.
Among these, 19 individual landowners and Indraprastha Society have applied for TDR, which has now been allocated proportionately based on the size of the plots. Other landowners will also have the opportunity to apply.
The scheme also benefits slum residents. NMC will earmark the land for housing, acquire it through TDR, and register it under NMC’s name before issuing government-approved leases to encroachers. In the near future, permanent leases will be officially distributed by Fadnavis, providing much-needed legal security to thousands of slum families.
