by THO
MUMBAI: Three generations of the Mishra family have been raised in a room measuring 220 sq ft in a housing colony at Kalachowkie in Parel. When he moved in with his seven-member family in 1991, Radheshyam Mishra was 32 years old. It was a tight squeeze but, in a city whose real estate is among the world’s most expensive, the Mishras were happy to call it home.
When the 48 buildings in Abhyudaya Nagar began to show serious signs of ageing, conversations about redevelopment began in the year 2000. Between 2006 and 2014, the colony saw three failed attempts due to challenges with developers, one of whom was arrested in the 2G spectrum case.
Spread across 33 acres, Abhyudaya Nagar was built by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) in the 1960s to house industrial workers. After an epic struggle to get their homes redeveloped, the 15,000 residents of this colony can finally hope – Abhudaya Nagar is set to make history. If things go as planned, it would become one of the first housing projects in Mumbai to be redeveloped under the state’s revamped, and hugely ambitious, Cluster Development Policy.
“Just ahead of the assembly elections, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured us that MHADA would redevelop our colony,” said Mishra, who stands to get a 635-sq-ft house and a parking space.
The story of Abhyudaya Nagar’s redevelopment mirrors that of thousands of crumbling MHADA buildings across Mumbai. The housing board was established to create affordable housing in the 1970s; today, it owns 114 properties in the city, some of them colonies spanning several city blocks. MHADA is also responsible for the repair and reconstruction of 19,642 old and dilapidated, cessed buildings, most of them built in the colonial era. In addition, MHADA owns 2.25 lakh homes in Mumbai, built under various housing schemes, since 1948.
For decades, ‘MHADA’ has been synonymous with decaying buildings, a graveyard of stalled redevelopment proposals. The properties under MHADA’s care were condemned to a growing list of ‘old and dilapidated’ structures, many unfit for habitation, and yet attempts to get them redeveloped mostly come to naught.
Eknath Rajapure, working president, MHADA Sangharsh Kruti Samiti, says that residents of MHADA buildings face challenges such as corruption within the housing board; MHADA’s callous disinterest towards what can only be described as a humanitarian crisis building in its properties; developers who dupe residents or back out of projects; tenants-builder-landowner disputes; and litigation that effectively stonewalls projects.
Cluster Redevelopment: New Life
So, how does a housing board go from a state of policy paralysis and inertia to being appointed as the Special Planning Authority for some of Mumbai’s most ground-breaking redevelopment schemes? Take, for instance, the redevelopment of BDD Chawls, one of Mumbai’s most significant urban renewal plans.
Launched in 2016 and being executed under the state’s revamped Cluster Development Policy, this is MHADA’s first most monumental redevelopment project to date, and only the second one to be executed under the cluster policy in Mumbai.
Built a century ago to house mill workers and other migrants who came to Bombay to work, these chawls are spread across 92 acres, in Worli, Naigaon and N M Joshi Marg. Living in 160-ft tenements are 16,000 families across all three locations, each of whom will receive a 2 BHK apartment of 500 sq ft, on an ownership basis when the project is complete. The first batch of these new home owners will be given the keys to their dream houses in early 2025.
Transforming Kamathipura
MHADA’s most colossal redevelopment challenge is the plan to transform Kamathipura, Asia’s largest sex district, into a modern ‘urban village township’. Also planned under the revamped Cluster Redevelopment Policy, the project was approved by the state government in January 2023. It covers a staggering 734 buildings, 14 religious structures and two schools, among other structures situated on 27.59 acres. Both landowners and tenants will receive 500-sq ft apartments.
Rousing MHADA from its lethargy and giving the redevelopment process the momentum it so badly needed were amendments to the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DPCR) 2034. These policy changes are builder-friendly and greatly incentivised the redevelopment process for developers, benefitting tenants, home owners and landlords, in the bargain.
Among these was an amendment to Rule 33(9) of the Cluster Redevelopment Policy, a game-changer possibly inspired by the success of Mumbai’s first-ever cluster redevelopment project – the Bhendi Bazaar urban renewal plan. Launched in 2009 – the first phase was completed in 2020 – this is a private initiative being spearheaded by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) under the aegis of the state government. It is transforming one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Mumbai.
Under the plan, 250 decaying buildings will be razed and replaced by modern towers with state-of-the-art, sustainable facilities, food courts, recreational areas, gardens, community spaces, and other such amenities that have further enhanced the quality of life of 3,200 families.
The Bhendi Bazaar plan shows just how much can be achieved when the agency driving such a complex project is motivated to see it through to completion. Collaboration and trust are also vital, something MHADA has not inspired in lakhs of other residents still awaiting their turn.
More Power to MHADA
Also amended recently was Section 79(a) of the MHADA Act, 1976, bringing a sliver of hope to families in thousands of dilapidated buildings under MHADA’s care. Amended in December 2022, it gives the housing board sweeping powers to rescue buildings whose redevelopment has been stalled.
Under Section 79(a), MHADA can serve a notice to a dilapidated building’s landlord, directing him to initiate redevelopment within six months. If the landlord fails to act, MHADA can issue a notice to the tenants under Section 79(b). If they too fail to initiate redevelopment with a builder of their choice, MHADA can serve the society with Section 91(a) and redevelop the building itself. The housing board has issued over 1,200 such notices in the last 12 months.
Residents of these buildings make a convincing argument when they say that to most effectively use Section 79(a) and other amendments, MHADA would have to actually start caring about implementing its mandate. They point out that while the recent policy changes are very encouraging, on-ground implementation will follow only if MHADA acts swiftly and proactively.
Experts point out that the amendment was made only because residents of cessed buildings, whose redevelopment projects had been pending since 2017, approached the Bombay High Court. They had urged the court to direct the state to take over the projects as the developer had defaulted in completing them.
MHADA’s Dismal Track Record
The scepticism towards MHADA also arises from the hopelessness of hundreds of thousands of families in transit accommodation assigned by MHADA till their homes are rebuilt or redeveloped. Many of these families have been housed in ‘transit camps’, usually a great distance from where they originally lived, as their structurally weak buildings had collapsed or their redevelopment projects had been stalled. Meant to be temporary accommodation, these ‘transit’ dwellings end up becoming near-permanent homes as there is no attempt to find a long-term solution to the families’ housing crisis.
This is not the only challenge posed by a housing board that does not always prioritise residents over builders. At Siddharth Nagar, popularly known as Patra Chawl, 672 families are yet to move into their redeveloped homes, 16 years after MHADA launched the project on this prime 47-acre plot in Goregaon. The project was derailed when the developer was arrested in the PMC Bank scam case but it resumed under another builder – which constructed only the saleable component of the project!
While home buyers of the 1,700 flats in the saleable component are already moving in, the 672 original families still have no access to the project’s rehabilitation component. This component was built only after residents moved the Bombay High Court, which in 2023 ordered MHADA to construct and house them on the same plot. This component is awaiting the Occupancy Certificate, so there’s no telling when the 672 families will get their new homes.
The future is also uncertain for 1.5 lakh residents living in 388 dilapidated MHADA buildings in areas such as Colaba, Girgaon, Mumbadevi, Byculla, Sewri, Prabhadevi and Mahim. Built during the British era, these buildings started to crumble in the ’60s and ’70s. The state government handed them over for redevelopment to MHADA, which demolished 900 of them. These redeveloped, standalone buildings – each with 80-100 flats – are once again crumbling but they have used up the benefits in the first redevelopment process. It’s a conundrum no housing authority has cared to address.
Eknath Rajapure, working president of the MHADA Sangharsh Kruti Samiti, draws a parallel with slum rehabilitation projects. He says successive state governments have been offering generous benefits to slumdwellers, consistently increasing the size of their homes, amending their eligibility criteria etc. Slumdwellers have always been a captive votebank for politicians, and they are expected to return the favour during elections. “I challenge you to give me an instance of a state agency that has fulfilled its housing mandate, where its goal is to simply get the job done.”
Rajapure is not being cynical; his comment merely reflects a sentiment shared by senior MHADA officials. As Sanjeev Jaiswal, vice-president and chief executive officer of MHADA, put it, “Bureaucrats, before taking charge of MHADA, pray that no building collapses during their tenure.”
