MUMBAI: The state cabinet decided on Wednesday that the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (Mhada) will now be the developer of Siddharth Nagar (Patra Chawl) at Goregaon West, where work has been stuck for close to a decade.
The state cabinet also decided, as a one-time special case, that it will allow Mhada to sell the flats at market rates.
This is to enable Mhada to recover the cost it will incur in carrying out the redevelopment for the existing tenants.
Mhada will have to raise the funds for the redevelopment by making provision for it in its budget.
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Mhada has scarcely been effective.
It has taken a long time for the state government to take a decision on the Patra Chawl issue, and residents will have to wait another two years for their homes in the redeveloped buildings — an entire generation spent waiting.
The state government and Mhada need to push for redevelopment, especially cluster redevelopment, as soon as possible as Mumbai has little vacant land left for new construction.“The Mhada layout is spread over 47 acres and only a few acres have been used to construct three buildings for the Ekta Housing Society residents and the Mhada lottery winners.
The original contractor Guruashish had fraudulently sold pieces of land to other developers.
Some of these have been developed.
We shall ensure these residents too get their flats, but we shall ensure none of the builders to whom the original builder sold the land gets any benefits,” said housing minister Jitendra Awhad.
It is estimated that Mhada will now get around 4 lakh sq feet of built-up area to construct and would be one of the authority’s most profitable ventures.
“We shall develop the remaining land as a cluster development,” said Awhad.
Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar, who had filed a complaint demanding an enquiry into the scam, said that the developers and Mhada officials who have been responsible for the scam must be punished and the losses suffered by Mhada should be recovered from them.
The approval comes following a report submitted by a committee headed by former chief secretary Johny Joseph recommending that Mhada itself carry out the redevelopment.
It has also directed that all the 672 tenants be rehabilitated and also pay rent to them.
The 306 lottery winners will also be allotted their homes after completion of the building work.
“The tenants will be paid rent for the years that they have not been paid.
Around 60% of the building work is to be completed.
The flats will be made available to the tenants in the next two years,” said Awhad.
As per the committee’s recommendations, Mhada will need to appoint a committee comprising three of its representatives and two experts.
This committee will enumerate how much FSI has been utilised by the nine developers, dues owed to Mhada, its construction cost, revenue from the project and ensure that while recovering the dues from the developers, no loss is caused to the housing authority.